Were It So Easy
by Sigma0327
Summary: Noble Six, our favorite lone wolf, lives a military career of impossible feats as he and the Master Chief defeat the Covenant. Six's seemingly endless string of near death moments chalked up to the wise words of a friend from another planet as he tries to keep himself stable in his goal to defend humanity. An accident with impossible results could give the Spartan what he needs.
1. Chapter 1

**Were it so Easy**

 **Disclaimer:** Any and all characters are not my own, and neither is the Mass Effect and Halo franchise.

 **Rated M just to be sure. (Possible Violence).**

 **Chapter 1 - Another Day, Another Mission**

 _Mike B312, formally known as Noble Six, has failed. The Spartan's combat effectiveness and survival chance now reduced to a margin laughable enough to instigate some form of dark humour from the clutches of Lucifer's domain. Six had fought as hard as he possibly could, slaughtering a few hundred Covenant in a conflict that lasted for many hours. But even Spartans had limits, and the lone wolf knew that he could not fight for long, besides…_

 _Reach has fallen._

 _The lone wolf was angered by his failure to complete his most important mission. The thought of failing to preserve the lives of Noble Team; his family, angered him tenfold. His armored gauntlets groaned slightly as he clenched his fists. As if to answer the Spartan, the roar of several elites followed by the guttural barks and growls of grunts and jackals suddenly could be heard through the orange tinted dust storm that flashed red occasionally from the Covenant glassing beams._

 _Reach has fallen._

 _The Spartan, clad in black standard issue Mark V MJOLNIR armor most commonly worn by Spartan IIs, slowly marched towards the sounds emitted by his next victims. He marched slowly with precise strides that would have left any grizzled drill sergeant proud through the paradise turned wasteland that was littered with hundreds of dead Covenant and 2 dozen of their destroyed vehicles._

 _Reach has fallen._

 _Six stopped… his combat instincts lit up like a christmas tree… he rolled to the side in a blur. The familiar green projectile of a fuel rod cannon soared past the Spartan and impacted an abandoned UNSC military building... the blast melting through the reinforced steel like butter. Noble Six completed his evasive maneuver with a crouching stance. He then shouldered his M392 DMR, looked through the 3x scope… and fired. The first two rounds impacted the unprepared grunt that fired the heavy weapon at Six, while the second round pierced clean through the head of a jackal marksman. Before the corpses even hit the ground, the Spartan let loose a storm of precise shots downing a pair of minor elites and 5 more grunts. Six prepared to fire again at a trio of jackals, but the only response he got out of the well worn weapon was a few clicks. The lone wolf could already hear the imminent approach of more hostiles._

 _Reach has fallen._

 _Unperturbed, the super soldier cocked his right arm back and released a fragmentation grenade towards the shielded jackals. The explosive device landing a foot behind the group of birdlike creatures and exploded, impaling the jackals with thousands of pieces of white hot metallic fragments. The super soldier checked his motion tracker… and spun around fast enough to give any normal human whiplash. The sight that met the lone wolf was a squad of 5 white ultra elites and 2 zealots clad in their famed crimson armour._

 _It's over._

 _Noble Six observed as a zealot accompanied by two ultras charged at the Spartan wielding their energy swords, the weapons glowing a deadly white-blue colour. Noble Six could feel his adrenal glands pumping more and more adrenaline into his bloodstream as the threat drew closer. The super soldier began to enter a state appropriately dubbed 'Spartan Time', The elites' full on sprint now slowed to nothing more than a fast paced jog. The hyper lethal vector waited for his opponents to get within striking range… and lashed out, the kick, despite his grave injuries, half killed the leftmost ultra as it slid across the ground… 10 meters away. The Spartan then leapt over the zealot as it tried to cut Six in half. Soaring through the air, the Spartan performed a midair somersault, landed, rolled, and retrieved the knocked out ultra's sword, stabbing it in the process._

 _The now dead warrior's comrades roared a deafening roar powerful enough to put a sonic boom to shame. The remaining two warriors charged again with Six attempting to dodge… and failing as the zealot swiped at the Spartan, connecting with his helmet. He recovered quickly and withdrew his M6 magnum pistol, firing a handful of rounds at the ultra, Noble six lashed out at the zealot who attempted to block it only to have the Spartan switch tactics, duck low, and cut off the warriors legs. The zealot roared in pain and fell to the ground, now useless in combat. The Spartan turned his attention to the ultra who became a victim to Six's side arm as a 12.7mm bullet impacted its brain, effectively ending its life. The remaining zealot screamed in its language and pointed at the super soldier. The remaining warriors charged and discharged their plasma weapons… at this range they could not miss. Six, without his shield, and with a heavily damaged suit of armor was hit 5 times. Although the suit wasn't completely breached; a testament to the durability of MJOLNIR. Unfortunately, the damage was done; the Spartan collapsed to the ground, he still continued to defy the Covenant's might as he fended off the attackers with elbows and kicks. Six suddenly found himself unable to defend himself as an elite on each side pinned his arms to the ground. The silent lone wolf watched the zealot stalk closer with its energy sword ignited._

 _I have failed_

 _It then plunged the plasma sword into his heart_

Lieutenant Spartan B312's eyes shot open as he tried to keep his breathing under control. Six sat up and observed the area for possible threats… only to relax slightly at the sight of his living quarters; he is onboard the UNSC Infinity.

He sighed ' _I'm not on Reach… I'm alive, the year is 2558, the war is over.'_ Thought Six as he slipped out of his bed and began to put on his skinsuit.

Suddenly, a soothing English male voice spoke; "Good morning Noble Six, sleep well?" Six instantly recognized the voice to belong to his AI; Sigma; or by serial number, SGM 0327-9. "Negative Sigma, It was not as peaceful as I had wanted it to be." Replied Six with that same emotionless face and deep monotone voice as usual.

* * *

Sigma revealed his avatar on a data chip that rested on a table next to Six's bed. Sigma's avatar was that of a World War One British Officer.

The AI simply frowned, "Six you really should see someone about those nightmares, ever since Reach they have been growing in frequency and intensity. After what you have accomplished alongside the Master Chief, you deserve a break and a chance to be normal."

Noble Six simply ceased his tasks and stared at the AI this time frowning back, "I am a Spartan Sigma, my purpose is to fight. I don't need to rest, however, I should speak to a professional to fix this mental weakness. I must be ready to complete any and all future operations, I must maintain my validity as a valuable asset." Said Six, returning to applying his skinsuit.

Sigma on the other hand felt a pang of sadness; Noble Six was a human, not a damn machine, yet here he is very much succeeding in imitating the famous terminator in human disguise. How could Six stand behaving like a machine all this time; normal humans would probably go insane trying to behave like him. It just isn't natural and Sigma suddenly felt the desire to slaughter every single human that decided to turn Six's childhood into a military training regime… and into this cold, emotionless super soldier that stood before him. The AI wanted to say something back to the hard at work Spartan, to tell him that he is wrong and is a human with the potential to return to normal civilian life, although 'return' wouldn't be the proper word since Six has been in the military since the age of 6. But the Spartan was in his element, Captain Lasky has asked Six to be on standby for possible deployment to Covenant controlled territory on the elite homeworld of Sanghelios. Noble Six needed to stay one hundred percent focused on the mission, giving him something else to think of; like his childhood, would likely reduce his combat effectiveness. It was time to go to work.

* * *

Spartan B312, now dressed in his grey skinsuit, grabbed a M6 magnum and 2 spare magazines for self defence. _'Never hurts to be prepared',_ thought Six as he practically marched out of his quarters toward the mess hall. A lot of the crew stared at the sight of the Spartan; his 6'10 incredibly muscular frame along with his placid face was an intimidating sight. But this time it wasn't as much fear, instead a lot of the crew had expressions of respect, pity, and awe. Noble Six was as big a war hero as the Master Chief, the two Spartans fought alongside each other from the halls of Cairo station to the shores of Halo and even the Ark. Six respected the Spartan II immensely, they were the top soldiers in the UNSC only rivalled by each other.

The hungry super soldier arrived at the mess hall, only to find it pretty much empty, as if the damn ship was infected by the flood. Six mentally grimaced, the flood was the only thing that really scared him; the fact that a single spore can result in the lost of an entire planet within hours was horrifyingly unnerving. The flood is gone however, thanks to the actions of the elites, the Chief, and Six himself. Six looked to his left and saw a familiar figure sitting at one of the tables alone. The man was strong looking, although slightly thinner than Six, he still looked like he could snap any human in two. The man was completely bald and had a fistful of arrows tattooed on the left side of his head.

Six instantly recognized the man as Spartan Jun-A226. The lone wolf smiled; besides himself, Jun is the only member of Noble Team to survive Reach. Jun was tasked by commander Carter to escort doctor Halsey to CASTLE base during the battle of Reach. How Jun made it off the planet was a mystery to even Six but he was just relieved to see his brother in arms is still alive.

Jun looked up from his meal and smiled at the sight of the Lone Wolf. "Good morning Six, glad to see you up, have a seat".

Six pulled out a chair and sat in front of a second tray filled to the brim with a mountain of scrambled eggs and bacon across from Jun.

"You knew I was coming Jun?" Asked Six referring to the mysterious tray of food that seemingly appeared out of nowhere like a hallucination in the desert.

Jun smirked as Six scrutinized the tray. "What can I say, you are becoming more and more predictable with your routine by the day." Six chuckled at Jun's comment. "Have you been informed of our possible deployment on Sanghelios?" questioned Six, his voice becoming more serious now.

"Of course, I have been informed but no detailed briefing made it through." Jun was frustrated at the lack of information and so was Six.

"It's not like them to simply mention the 'possibility' of us being deployed without any information on the mission directive." said Six, as if such a thing could not be even be remotely possible in the laws of science.

Jun agreed, "We haven't been called to report to Lasky, we haven't even been given any possible objectives or targets."

Six decided to change the topic, realizing they will get nowhere with this,"We won't know until informed otherwise Jun, how are the Spartan IVs?" this elicited a sigh from Jun. "Their training is going well but they are still like kids; arrogant and think they are invincible in their new power armor."

When the Human Covenant war ended, the UNSC recognized the need for more Spartans. However, the previous process of recruiting or abducting children was unethical and the original Spartan Program was too expensive to yield thousands of Spartans. So the UNSC authorized the Spartan IV program; this program allowed for adults from existing special forces branches to enlist. The new Spartans used GEN 2 MJOLNIR armor. While effective, it was not as durable as GEN 1, the good thing was that it could be mass produced unlike GEN 1 suits where a single suit costed as much as a small starship. Spartan IV augmentations were more numerous but the results paled in comparison to the IIIs and IIs. A Spartan IV is much more physically superior than a normal human, but a Spartan II or III could toss one around like a sack of feathers.

"They lack teamwork, skill and most of all, discipline." stated Jun, his frustration evident enough to stick out like a steak to a rottweiler's nose.

"They weren't raised the way we were Jun." Six reassured.

"They will never best us in combat, but it is nice to have the Spartan population now numbering in the hundreds." Jun calmed down.

"You are right Six, where we have quality, they have quantity. Besides some of the Spartan IV teams performed very well throughout recent engagements namely Crimson, Shadow, and Eclipse fireteams."

It was true, many of the Spartan IV teams have taken Jun's lessons to heart and are as effective as ever - still falling short of Spartan II and III effectiveness but worthy of an honourable mention regardless.

Six began to dig into his breakfast. "Have we been informed of our destination?" Jun sighed once again as he finished his breakfast.

"No, ONI seems content with keeping us in the dark, not that they haven't ever done that mind you. It's just they never withheld critical information like this. They are putting the entire UNSC Infinity at risk."

Six agreed with this; ONI can be very secretive, even going as far as killing UNSC personnel just to keep a few secrets from the public.

This, however, was just ridiculous, there are seventeen thousand people onboard the most advanced ship humans have ever built and ONI hasn't said a word about what they were getting into. Six knew that ONI had stealth prowlers at their destination to provide reconnaissance for the arriving UNSC ships. They haven't deployed any distress beacons which means they are still active…

All they could do was wait for what was to come.

* * *

Sigma currently was not happy; upon being summoned to the bridge by Roland; the Infinity's AI, Sigma finally learned the plight of their situation… and ONI's ignorance.

Upon contacting the ONI scouts in system, they reported that the Covenant remnants had at their disposal an entire fleet of three dozen ships orbiting near the planet. It wasn't just the fact that ONI only requested the Infinity to go in there alone without a proper force assessment on the enemy that pissed him off. No, it was the fact that ONI didn't even confirm the classification of the enemy ships, it could have been a fleet of corvettes or a fleet of supercarriers for all they knew. Not just that, but the ONI scouts were responsible for relaying information from the Arbiter's allied scouts working on the ground. So to top things off, the Infinity had no idea what to expect from the enemy fleet or enemy troop formations on the ground, hell, the Infinity wasn't even given a primary objective. Lord Hood was going to have someone's head when he learns of his mistake by loaning the Infinity to ONI.

"Dammit, what could be so important to ONI that could allow them to justify jeopardizing the safety of the UNSC Infinity." Said Lasky with a stern voice as he was pacing along the bridge. Roland's avatar suddenly appeared on the holotable, it was an orange World War 2 pilot.

"Sir, we should be expecting to be hailed by the ONI prowler group at any moment according to the schedule." Captain Lasky stopped pacing and looked at the AI.

"Whatever they have to say better be worth my time." Said Lasky, the frustration evident in his voice.

Lasky was a likable captain that respected his men and always tried to avoid situations involving high casualties. Despite the criticism that the other captains and admirals bombard Lasky with, Lasky's methods are arguably the most effective and efficient, always ensuring the best results with minimum casualties. His passive aggressiveness a force to be reckoned with on the chessboard of naval combat, there's a reason why HIGHCOM assigned Lasky to command Humanity's most powerful warship.

Lasky was no fool and knew that ONI is hiding something.

"Sir, we're being hailed." replied a communications officer. "Whoever is hailing us is using a unique algorithm encryption, I can't access it."

Lasky furrowed his eyebrows. "Roland, see if you can't crack that encryption."

"Yes sir" replied the AI rather enthusiastically at the idea of being given a challenge.

Sigma talked for the first time after being summoned to the bridge. "Roland, do you require assistance in cracking the encryption?" Roland stared at Sigma.

"Sigma, this is a 50 exabyte encryption, I am capable of cracking a 64 zettabyte encryption if need be, really I feel offended at the idea of needing help doing what would take me 5 seconds." Roland pouted, rather childishly.

Lasky smirked." Now, now ladies, the both of you have your uses, you're both beautiful just the way you are, no need to cat fight here."

Roland ignored the annoying captain. "Sir, I've cracked the connection, it appears to be the captain of the lead ONI prowler attempting to hail us."

 _What the hell?_

"Roland how the hell do these prowlers have access to an algorithm this advanced?"

"I don't know sir, patching them through to you now."

A screen lit up with static, then it took form to show a rather young man wearing a captain's uniform. He had standard regulation hair length and stood at parade rest ready to salute if you even looked at him the wrong way for more than a second.

The man finally spoke

"Sir, Captain Daniels of the UNSC Where Eagles Land standing by to provide in-system enemy assessment."

Lasky inwardly rolled his eyes but remained stoic. "Let's just cut to the chase captain, can you explain to me why the hell you were communicating to us with an algorithm that is unknown to the rest of the UNSC?"

"It's complicated sir but I'll explain." the captain continued. "To put it bluntly, the Covenant troops on the planet appear to have the ability to identify our communication algorithms, long range telemetry indicates that the Covenant have several outposts with tracking equipment that once identifying the presence of UNSC communication, can triangulate our exact coordinates without us knowing."

Lasky furrowed his eyebrows. "That's grim news captain, but how do you know that's what's going on?" Asked Lasky, not really convinced at the moment.

"Because the other three prowlers accompanying us were wiped out the minute they tried to communicate with us, thankfully, it appears that their encryption techniques can't adapt to encrypt new communication algorithms." Replied the captain rather stoically.

Lasky appeared to be convinced with the answer and proceeded to press on with the questioning. "Thank you captain, I'd like to know why ONI wanted the UNSC Infinity to jump to the elite homeworld."

"Yes captain, that's the reason I've hailed you in the first place. Anyways, the Arbiter has requested the UNSC to assist in wiping out Covenant presence on Sanghelios. To do that, we need to slip in a battlegroup past Covenant early warning systems. Scans indicate that a Covenant fleet of three dozen ships is standing by 10,000,000 kilometers away from the planet to assist Covenant ground troops. Alerting said fleet will result in unnecessary casualties as we attempt to wipe out the planetside hostiles."

Captain Lasky was surprised at the numbers of the Covenant fleet; apparently the UNSC have greatly underestimated the Covenant naval might.

"Okay Daniels, how do we bypass the early warning system?"

Daniels smiled. "That's easy sir, the Infinity has stealth capable transports, we could drop off a team of Spartans to neutralize the Covenant's command and control center which also acts as the central node for the early warning system."

Lasky nodded. "Okay Daniels, but tell me this; why has ONI withheld all mission data before sending us off to Sanghelios when we had no clue what we were getting into?"

The ONI captain replied almost instantly. "ONI believes that the Covenant have a forerunner artifact based on what our spies told us. We trust you sir, which is why we sent you in. Sending in a team to knock out the command and control center will not only seriously help our elite allies, but also secure potential forerunner technology. We'd be killing two birds with one stone basically."

Lasky took a sip of coffee before continuing. "So this forerunner artifact must be extremely important if our beloved Admiral Parangosky decided to risk the most expensive thing humanity has ever built by sending it on a mission with zero intel."

"Yes sir, regretfully I don't know what the artifact is, but since it is the only item of forerunner origin, it would be fairly easy to locate based on the readings we got from scanning the area."

Lasky decided to end the conversation since no more mission critical data would be acquired. "Thank you captain, we will arrive in system in about 24 hours, from there we

will consolidate and execute the mission." and with that, the screen went black.

Captain Lasky, now satisfied with the current situation, turned to Sigma's avatar. "Sigma, could you please inform Noble Six and Noble Three that they are needed at the bridge?"

"Of course sir, informing Noble Team right now." came the AI's response as his hologram vanished into thin air.

* * *

The entire gym was deadly silent as all eyes fell on the boxing ring that was now occupied by the two deadly warriors, the tension in the air was thick enough to cut with a knife as each of them held an unwavering gaze that seemed intent on peeling through the fabric of reality itself. The two combatants circled each other with slow and precise strides, their footsteps quieter than a church mouse half a kilometer away.

The Spartans have been sparring for about one hour and not one of them are willing to back down.

"Let's hope they don't kill one of us by accident, I'd rather live to fight the real enemy instead of getting mangled by a Spartan." one of the marines whispered as Six continued to analyze Jun's defense for any weaknesses.

Although preferring to tackle targets from a long distance, Jun, like every other Spartan, was an excellent hand-to-hand fighter. Six wasn't going to underestimate him in the slightest. Since he is a sniper, Jun's patience is nigh infinite, being used to waiting for his kill anywhere from a few hours or minutes, to even a few days. But Six matched him in that regard, as a lone wolf that enjoys stealth, Six has waited days just to cross a small field without being spotted.

Jun lashed out with a kick to which Six responded by ducking underneath and following up with a deadly uppercut towards Noble's vigilant eye. The sniper leaned back… perfect.

The lone wolf fired a front kick at Jun's abdomen, Jun flew back into the ropes at the edge of the ring but quickly recovered, dodging a fatal left hook from the lone wolf.

All of this occurred in as little as two seconds, the super soldiers were nothing but blurs to the audience, even the most seasoned veterans did not register what happened until a second later.

"The hell just happened?" Six heard one of the marines ask, with pure shock and awe in his voice.

The super soldiers ignored the shocked soldiers, and continued their sparring session, throwing punches and kicks mixed in with grappling maneuvers… the Spartans remained untraceable through their supernatural speed and reflexes. With a reaction time estimate of about 20 milliseconds, normal combatants would be moving in slow motion - even without the help of adrenaline coursing through their veins allowing them to enter Spartan Time. But in the eyes of a Spartan, a fellow super soldier would be moving a little faster than 'normal'.

Jun threw a punch at Six, but the lone wolf caught it. Six put his right leg behind Jun, pinned Jun's arm to his chest, then struck him with his palm. The sniper stepped back and tripped over Mike's leg, but Jun merely rolled with the momentum and was in a crouching stance in a split second… only to take a roundhouse kick to the chin.

Noble Three was on the ground with Six somehow already in position to perform a rear naked choke. Six squeezed lightly, then slowly added more pressure until Jun tapped his arm, signalling his defeat.

The lone wolf got up off the ground and helped his fellow Spartan up.

"A little rusty are we Jun?" said Six sarcastically as the corners of his mouth twitched upwards to form a smile.

Jun chuckled. "don't worry Six, I was just going easy on you, next time I will win." Six's smile grew a little larger.

Jun's presence is really the only thing that can make Six smile. Ever since Reach, Six thought he was the last of Noble Team, Six was devastated and consumed with rage at the loss of the only real team he ever had. Six was an outcast, even among Spartan's, after Spartan Kurt-051 pulled him and a few select Spartan IIIs out of Beta Company, Six worked by himself to tackle his missions.

That changed until he was assigned to Noble Team. At first Six grimaced at the idea of having to rely on others even if he was relying on Spartans. Six wanted to have complete control over the outcome of the mission, he did not want to fail just because someone was an unreliable asset and couldn't keep up.

Mike was wrong

He realized that he had a family of super soldiers just like him. They fought, won, and bled together, and after the battle they would sit back and joke and laugh, actually laugh. Six never felt more human in his life… he cared deeply for his team. When he thought that they were all dead… Six just snapped… snapped with enough energy to make a nuclear reactor seem redundant.

At Least Six still had Jun, and he'd be damned if he let anything happen to him.

Six looked back at Jun. "Hey Jun, you-" Six was cut off by Sigma's voice. "Noble Six, Noble Three, captain Lasky requests that you report to the bridge."

Jun looked at Six, their facial expressions now serious and full of anticipation. "Copy that Sigma, on route to the bridge."

"Let's not keep the captain waiting Jun." Six sighed, the battlefield was his home, but he really wished to spend some time catching up with Jun. _'I have a duty to attend to, good soldiers follow orders'._ The two super soldiers gracefully bypassed the marines and crew that now moved out of the way of the intimidating Spartans.

 _Good soldiers follow orders._

* * *

Captain Lasky waited patiently for Infinity's best assets to arrive at the bridge.

Lasky was regretting sending the two Spartans in. They deserved better after going through hell and back to save humanity and ultimately, the galaxy.

 _Damn, the least I could do is let them reacquaint with each other but no, I had to agree with Captain Daniels and send them off on another high risk mission._

Lasky pitied Noble Team the same way he pitied the Chief. They are heroes of humanity… no… they are heroes of the galaxy and while the public and the soldiers respected them beyond imagining the top brass simply brushed it off and gave them a dozen more missions to do.

 _Why can't they just get a break, they've been fighting this war their whole lives. Why can't HIGHCOM just let them take a break and… be human for once?_

Lasky's thoughts were cut short as the door to the bridge opened and two massive humans stepped in. On the right stood Jun, standing at 6'9, with a powerful muscular form Jun was intimidating. His blue eyes unblinking showing years of experience as a marksman. Jun was bald and his skin was darker for a Spartan; Spartans spend a lot of time in their armor usually, meaning they get no sunlight which makes them very pale.

On the left stood Noble Six. His hyper lethal classification should be enough to make anyone shiver like a leaf in the wind in his presence. Six stood an inch taller than Jun and was a little more muscular. His skin was slightly paler than Lasky's. Six sported a few scars on his face, most of them about as small as surgical cuts. The one scar that stuck out was a deeper cut that ran from his forehead, past his left eye, and halfway down his cheek. It gave him the aura of 'I'm a badass' and that wasn't even mentioning his stone expression and unwavering brown-eyed gaze. He could probably stare down the sun if he wanted to. Six's expression couldn't have been more emotionless if it had been carved from stone.

The two super soldiers offered a crisp salute in perfect unison and at the same time firmly stated. "Captain Lasky, Noble Team reporting as requested."

"At ease, please, relax." The two Spartans stood at parade rest.

Lasky inwardly sighed. _'I guess relax isn't in a Spartan's vocabulary.'_

"Ok I'm just going to cut to the chase here." Lasky started, looking at both Spartans as he spoke.

He continued. "The Covenant have a fleet of at least three dozen ships about 10,000,000 kilometers on our portside. We have confirmed that the Covenant have a command and control center that acts as a central node for their early warning system and is capable of easily detecting our fleet and alerting our presence to that fleet. If they are alerted, we risk unnecessary casualties."

Noble Six spoke up. "Sir, interrogative; what is our mission objective, and what is the enemy troop strength planetside?"

"Your mission objective is to neutralize the enemy command and control center. Not only will it ruin their leadership in the region, but it will render their early warning system useless. We don't have a bead on enemy troop strength, but expect a small army." Lasky Replied.

Suddenly the holotable lit up displaying Sanghelios along with a small red area representing the enemy controlled region.

A separate hologram suddenly displayed a typical Covenant citadel.

"This is your target, the command and control center is powered by a powerful plasma reactor, overloading it will result in an explosion powerful enough to wipe out not only the citadel, but also the surrounding area in a five kilometer radius, so you have to run fast upon overloading the reactor."

Lasky looked back up to the Spartans before continuing. "We can't bring in a large force for risk of being detected easier, it's just the two of you, but I'm confident that you two can pull it off."

"Sir, status on Blue Team?" asked Jun, obviously confused as to why the legendary Spartan Blue Team isn't joining them in this mission.

"Blue Team is currently taking part in several classified operations under ONI's command." answered Lasky, not too happy himself that ONI had to pull out Blue Team to do their dirty work.

"I understand the risks, but currently you are the most valuable asset that I have, no one else can pull off a mission like this. I know that the two of you are more than capable of completing this mission." Reassured Lasky, his eyes twinkled with each word that exited his mouth.

"Understood sir, we won't let you down." said Six, his voice now filled with determination.

"One more thing, ONI has detected an artifact of forerunner origin somewhere within your mission area. In fact, this is one of the main reasons ONI wants us here, apparently, the artifact is extremely important to them." Explained Lasky, his voice flat and face neutral.

He continued." Despite its value, consider it a secondary objective. I'm not risking the two of you over the whims of Admiral Parangosky, not if I can help it."

"Understood sir, we'll see what we can do about the artifact." Jun's slavic accent stated with a perfect, clear tone that stated 'consider it done'.

Lasky smiled. "Good, we still have 22 hours until the Infinity reaches Sanghelios so you are free to do as you please. However, I expect you to be ready one hour before we reach our destination, dismissed."

"Sir yes sir." Came the response of the super soldiers, simultaneous enough to be mistaken for telepathy.

The Noble members marched out of the bridge with long practised strides more precise than a manufacturing robot.

Lasky sighed, _just another suicide mission for Noble Team, damn, what is wrong with me?_

* * *

Most Spartans spend their downtime training or in cryosleep, Six was not different - at least when it came to the training part. Spartans would train in all forms of combat, from all forms of martial arts, to weapons maintenance, vehicle operations, and even mathematics which included basic slipspace calculations. Such practices were all meant to increase their combat prowess - to win.

But on this rare occasion, Six wasn't training - oh no… he was just thinking, his mind whirred, as he lost focus on his surroundings within one of the Infinity's many large gyms.

 **Flashback**

 _They just kept coming. The Covenant wanted to kill one of the feared demons, but Six wasn't ready to die without a fight. The lone warrior stood in the middle of at least three hundred dead Covenant warriors all killed in brutal and efficient methods._

 _At Least three hundred…_

 _Truth be told, Six did not know how much he killed. It could be three hundred or it could be a thousand, he no longer knew. His entire brain, save for the parts dedicated to combat, completely shut off, as if hit by an EMP bomb. The dust storm blew past Six, its orange tinted winds carrying off the souls that died defending reach._

 _Another Phantom dropship flew off to the west… just like all the other dropships._

 _Six, despite, his 100% percent combat focussed status, was able to notice this._

' _Perhaps the Covenant have a drop off point for their troops' thought Six as he once again unslung his Designated Marksman Rifle._

 _Thoughts of hope managed to seep into his mind, could it be possible? To escape Reach and take the fight to the enemy for once? He would need a distraction._

 _It took him about a minute, but the lone wolf formulated a plan. It went as thus: The covenant believed him to be broken, and out of hope, willing to simply fight to the death. They didn't expect the Spartan to make an serious movement to vacate the area._

 _The Spartan visualized the route to be a giant L, he then imagined a line from the top of the L drawn down to the edge of the bottom line to form a right triangle; a hypotenuse. The top of the L would represent the enemy drop zone, which is actually the aszod shipyard. Using prior knowledge, the Spartan estimated the length of the 'line' to be about 12 km long. Noble Six then sprinted 6 km north; that would represent the bottom line._

 _Now satisfied, Six calculated the length of the hypotenuse using the simple pythagorean theorem. Six estimated the shortest distance from the drop zone to his new position to be 13.4 km. His best estimates had him to believe that the elites would be the first to arrive._

 _The Spartan knew that the elites would be the first to arrive. From experience, they'd probably be running at 50 km\h to save energy but get to the battle quickly. So six converted 50 km\h to 13.8m/s. He then divided the hypotenuse by the new velocity. Finally, Six divided that number by 60 to get a rounded answer of 16.2 minutes; that's how long it will take the elites to reach his new position - perfect._

' _Never thought those math lessons so many years ago would save my life'._

 _Six has effectively calculated the time it would take for the next group of elites to arrive. But first, he needed to get the attention of those already present._

 _The super soldier fired off a stolen plasma rifle towards the general direction of the drop zone, the blue bolts of plasma disappearing into the dust storm. 'That should get their attention.' thought Six as he hid behind a particularly large rock; about the size of a warthog._

 _The Spartan waited until he heard elite chatter. Six was about to formulate a plan of attack when he realized that he still had the active camouflage device that he acquired from a dead stealth elite._

' _Well this makes thing easier.' thought Six with a tiny smile. The lone wolf cloaked; invisible thanks to the dust storm._

 _The super soldier analyzed his next victims… only 5 minors led by an ultra in white armor. 'Must be a recon team trying to confirm my location.' theorized Six as he made his way to the ultra who was talking with one of the minors as the rest fanned out into a defensive formation._

 _Noble Six approached the ultra from behind, careful not to make a single noise, and violently drove his combat knife into the top of the ultra's skull, killing it almost instantly with its brain being punctured by the shear force._

 _Before the ultra hit the ground, even before the other elite could alert his presence to his comrades, Six became a blur and shoved his knife into the throat of the elite to silence it. The cold super soldier then twisted the knife and the warrior crumbled to the ground._

 _Unfortunately, another elite turned around, spotted Six, and opened fire with its plasma rifle, the others followed suit. Six rolled to the side faster than the normal eye could track and stood back up with a plasma rifle in one hand and a plasma grenade in the other._

 _Noble Six unleashed a hail of superheated plasma upon his foes. The the bolts of plasma struck the shield of one of the minors several times before the shield collapsed, revealing its blue armor the the lone wolf's weapon. The plasma stuck to the elite's armor like glue and melted away armor and flesh until the warrior dropped to the ground._

 _The Spartan threw the plasma grenade at two of the elites on the right and charged at the third, firing at it at point blank range… the Spartan did not miss._

 _The plasma grenade exploded, blue superheated plasma saturating a 3 meter radius melting through the armor and killing one elite, and critically injured the other elite._

 _The final warrior looked at the demon, before speaking through its communication equipment. It took all of Six's willpower to go against his training just this once and allow the elite to give away his position; the enemy must know his position in order for his ruse to work._

 _The elite, now having finished reporting Six's position simply stared at the Spartan's golden visor, as if trying to peel it off with its deadly glare. The Spartan didn't even flinch as it put a plasma bolt through its head, effectively sending it into the afterlife._

 _The Spartan hid behind the same rock and waited, he didn't have to wait long until a trio of phantoms headed off towards the drop zone. 'Let's hope this works.' thought Six as he cloaked and swiftly moved across the open ground along the bottom 'line'._

 _He made it to the vertical line of his imagined triangle, this area was littered with rocks of all sizes; perfect cover in the dust storm. The gray armoured super soldier sprinted at a speed of 60 km/h._

 _Six arrived a few minutes later at a ridge overlooking the drop zone. To his surprise, the drop zone wasn't as defended as he expected. The Covenant underestimated him terribly, no matter… Six was going to take full advantage of the mistake his enemy made._

 _The drop zone had several Covenant barriers as well as 4 tripod mounted plasma cannons and the whole camp was made up of a platoon sized defence force; or 30-40 hostiles, led by a zealot and a pair of hunters._

 _That could be a problem._

 _Hunters are the Covenant's heaviest shock troops. Standing at 12 feet tall and weighing 12,000 pounds, hunters are the most intimidating individuals in the Covenant military. Hunters are made up of a colony of lekgolo worms encased in weapons and armor. Each hunter in a pair represented by one half of a lekgolo colony. Each hunter is equipped with a two ton shield that can deflect anti-tank missiles… as well as cut a Spartan in half if hit by it. Their primary weapons however, is a heavy fuel rod cannon that can melt through tank armor with enough hits. Six did not want to test his shields against such a weapon._

 _The Spartan has indeed felled many hunters, however, not with this many troops supporting them, and not in his injured condition. In the center of the drop zone was a trio of unoccupied phantoms._

 _What caught the Spartan's eye was a rather large amount of the camp's occupants gathered around a massive stockpile of weapons and explosives._

' _Is that for me?' thought Six as he eyed the particularly large number of grunts and jackals gathering around the stockpile._

 _Six quietly snorted; the Covenant might as well have declared war on Six rather than humanity. That's enough ordnance for a small army, all the more reason for Six to get off this planet._

 _An idea formed in Six's head; all he needs is a grenade._

 _Six pulled the pin on his last frag grenade, said grenade soared through the air towards its intended target. The small explosive clattered against the ground and exploded. That explosion was suddenly dwarfed into insignificance as a terribly wonderful array of colors danced across the sky vapourizing more than half the personnel in the camp, including one of the hunters._

 _Noble Six in an instant charged towards the zealot, firing off his plasma weapon. Several bolts struck its shield as the warrior rolled to the right. The Spartan's plasma weapon overheated, but Six wasn't done yet. The super soldier threw the weapon at the elite, who swatted it away only to be struck in the face by an armoured gauntlet. The mass, strength, and speed of the Spartan ensured that the elite was dead._

 _The lone wolf was lucky to catch such an inexperienced zealot off guard; more seasoned warriors would be more of a problem._

 _Six continued to run and gun with the plasma rifle he picked up off the ground, easily slaughtering the grunts and jackals as he made his way to his escape._

 _A low, powerful roar suddenly rolled across the destroyed camp… the massive twelve foot walking tank slowly loomed towards the supersoldier that claimed the life of his bond brother._

' _Damn, I forgot about him.'_

 _Six could take on the hunter with what he's got, but it would take too much time, and time is what he is running out of. Six quickly analyzed the battlefield and found what he was looking for, a fuel rod cannon from a dead grunt._

 _The Spartan shouldered the weapon but did not fire. The hunter's heavy armor and shield would protect it from the front, Six needed to hit it in the rear in order to kill it quickly before more Covenant arrived._

 _The hunter's cannon began charging, preparing to fire. Suddenly, time seemed to slow down for Six as his body began pumping more adrenaline into his blood. Now time was nothing more than a crawl._

 _Spartan time._

 _Six sprinted toward the walking tank like a savage barbarian. The hunter fired it's fuel rod cannon, but Six, in his heightened state of awareness, jumped over the projectile and proceeded to close the distance between him and the hunter._

 _The hyper lethal vector rolled between the legs of the giant combatant and continued a few steps more before spinning around and emptying all five rounds from the heavy weapon's clip into the back of the hunter. The shots tore into the back of the hunter and vapourized the lekgolo worms, killing the hunter._

 _The lone wolf, unperturbed, dropped the weapon and spun around to the last phantom in working order. The massive explosion from Six's 'plan' vapourized one of the dropships and crippled the engines of another, this one will have to do._

 _The super soldier boarded the ship via the troop bay before entering the cockpit revealing to him dozens of buttons and levers. Thankfully, his training prepared him for such a scenario. Spartan Kurt made sure that the Spartan IIIs were trained to operate Covenant, weapons, equipment, vehicles, and even ships._

 _His training kicked in, and Six began typing in commands to the dropship, in order to activate its weapon systems and anti gravity generators. The engines of the ship roared to life and its weapons checked green._

 _The phantom gained altitude… before being pelted by plasma fire._

 _The dropship had heavy armor however and these light plasma weapons won't be able to bring it down. Six wasn't going to go easy on them however._

 _The phantom's main gun lit up the enemy's position like a christmas tree. The red explosive rounds pulverizing jackals and grunts, as well as tearing through the shields and armor of the elites like butter._

 _Six was satisfied when the stragglers began to retreat and masterfully manipulated the dropship up the Reach's exosphere. It only took him a few minutes to reach said destination before laying his eyes on a Covenant SDV heavy corvette._

 _The lone wolf allowed a small private smile onto his features as Six redirected his dropship to his new getaway vehicle._

 _Reach had fallen, but Six was far from it, and the Covenant on that ship were about to find out just how determined the Spartan truly was._

 **End Flashback**

That's how it went. Six boarded the Corvette, and after a long firefight through the ship, cut off the life support systems and killed the entire crew except for himself thanks to MJOLNIR's EVA capabilities. None of the occupants expected the Spartan's intentions so no one prepared for the possibility of a lack of life support.

Six reprogrammed the ship to jump to Earth and almost got atomized by a super MAC cannon. Thankfully the Spartan revealed his human identity and stayed aboard the Cairo station for several weeks before meeting the Chief.

From there, the two Spartans began their epic quest from Earth to the Halos and the Ark. The help of the Sangheili Arbiter Thel Vadam was invaluable as well. Mike remembered the Arbiter's first words when the Chief had a gun to his head.

' _Were it so easy'._

The saying, of course, referred to the Arbiter's inability to die easily at the Chief's hand. The elite said the same quote when Chief was missing in action, assuring Lord Hood, that the Chief doesn't die easily.

He was very much right about that.

Noble Six thought about why he didn't die back on Reach or all the other moments that he should have died for that matter. Six simply chalked it up to the Arbiter's saying that now clung to his memory like a swarm of flies on rotten meat.

A large human hand placed itself on Six's shoulder, startling the man from his thoughts.

"You okay Six?" came Jun's slavic accent, tainted with worry that only a Spartan would notice.

Six looked up at Noble's sniper. "I'm alright Jun just thinking."

The marksman sat next to Six on the spacious bench. "About what?" He asked, scrutinizing Six for any form of emotion, none came.

"Why am I still alive Jun?, I should of died on Reach, either with the rest of the team, or died making sure they lived." Six replied, his face remained a stone as he looked down to the floor.

Jun sighed; he had a feeling it would come to this. "Six, you couldn't do anything to ensure everyone survived, that is war. You can't expect everyone to always survive the fight." Jun looked at Six worryingly; his condition is worsening. Jun understood that Noble Team was Six's first real team after all the years spent working by himself.

He just needs to learn to live and let go.

Six looked at Jun, but Jun stopped him, knowing what he was going to say." Six, you need something to take your mind off of this and keep focused on the mission, only 18 hours left you know?"

The lone wolf's gaze hardened. "You're right, the mission matters. I'm going to hit the weights." and with that, the Spartan made his way off the the closest bench press.

All the other stations were occupied since the Infinity was in slipspace, it gave the crew some time to perform leisure activities.

Six walked over to a bench occupied by two marines. The larger of the two stood at 6'4 and was incredibly muscular. Still, the man looked pathetic compared to a Spartan III. the smaller marine was spotting the man as he successfully lifted 315lb, impressive for a normal human.

The lone wolf waited patiently for the man to finish before asking, "Are you gentlemen finished?"

The two combat veterans stared up at the Spartan's impenetrable gaze, eyes widened, before the larger of the two responded. "Yeah, sure we just finished."

The two men quickly got out of the massive human's way and walked off to another part of the large gym.

Mike began adding many plates to the bar until he calculated it to be at 800lb. He then sat down on the bench only to see the many pairs of eyes staring at him in disbelief. The sight of seeing so many plates threatening to snap the bar seemed to attract more attention than Six first assumed.

The Spartan inwardly sighed, before laying on the bench and levelling his eyes with the bar. He then placed his hands a little more than shoulder width apart. Noble Six began his warm up as he effortlessly lifted the absurdly heavy weight for 20 repetitions.

Like every Spartan, Six went through some serious augmentations in order to improve his physical capabilities. At first, each spartan could lift 3 times their body weight, which was significantly more than normal thanks to their dense bones and muscles. Chief Petty Officer Mendez and Spartan Kurt specifically stated that they would only get stronger and faster as they became used to their bodies and exposed themselves to physical labour.

They weren't kidding when they said that the Spartans would get stronger and faster.

Six set the weight back down and sat up only to see everyone in the gym giving Six their undivided attention, as if he was some kind of angel or demi god. The faces of some of the young recruits as pale as ghosts.

' _Damn it, why can't I workout in peace?'_ thought Six grimly as he slowly stood back up to add more weight.

Now weighing in at 1000lb, the bar looked like a parabola on a graph, but this parabola was susceptible to snapping in half like a twig. Nevertheless, Six sat down on the bench and once again lifting the weight 15 times, this time straining a little more. Six sat up once again to see still a horde of awed expressions staring at Six like unmoving statues. The Spartan was worried for the health of these men and women if he had to be honest.

' _This is going to be a long workout session.'_ thought the superhuman soldier as he piled more weight onto the bar, much to the utter shock of the observers.

* * *

Sigma was currently observing the camera feed of the Infinity, carefully skimming through the vast security feed until he stopped at one of the Infinity's gyms.

What Sigma found was rather amusing, amusing enough to put a smirk on a brick wall.

Noble Six was performing his workout regimen only to realize half the gym might as well have been in a coma from the shock and awe. The irritation on Six's face was priceless and the AI laughed at the Spartan's plight.

' _Poor Six can't seem to stop grabbing all the attention.'_ thought the Artificial Intelligence with one final chuckle.

Spartan's tend to attract a lot of attention even without their MJOLNIR armor. Their massive muscular bodies and superhuman traits aweing even the AI.

Sigma began to think back to that conversation between the ONI captain Daniels and Lasky about the strange Forerunner artifact.

' _Maybe I should take matters into my own hands.'_ thought the AI as he brought up the interface for the ONI prowler… it was scheduled to leave once the Infinity showed up so Sigma deemed it necessary to 'acquire' some files regarding said Forerunner artifact.

Sigma was not tied directly to ONI. He was developed with the purpose of providing support to a Spartan or Spartans. This included data gathering, combat assessment, hacking, and etc. Although he was no Cortana, Sigma was right beneath her capabilities. The UNSC did not want ONI to have control over such a capable AI so drastic measures were ensured to prevent that.

Sigma is not tied to ONI in anyway shape or form. So he took it upon himself to hack into the databases of the prowler. Sigma was leagues ahead of the dumb AI stationed aboard the prowler, so being discovered was not something to worry about.

Going over the files, Sigma realized that the main files appeared to be deleted.

' _Smart, they must have deleted the important files upon collecting the data in order to maintain secrecy'._ Thought the AI dryly as he continued his search.

The only real piece of data he found was that the device emitted low intensity hawking radiation. By low intensity, the file specifically meant so low that after a few dozen scans, they finally realized the hawking radiation residue.

' _Strange.'_

UNSC Shaw Fujikawa translight engines emitted hawking radiation as well. Could the artifact be some kind of Forerunner slipspace drive? It must be a very primitive version. Sigma didn't remember any form of Forerunner technology emitting hawking radiation.

But even if the device was primitive by Forerunner standards, the artifact could send humanity leagues ahead in slipspace travel. Now Sigma partially understood the need for secrecy. But to put Infinity in the dark like they did was just plain stupid.

Sigma decided to keep this to himself, Lasky does not need to know that the AI just hacked into an ONI ship's database to secure the utmost classified information.

Sigma decided to keep himself busy by challenging Roland to a few games of chess. Soon Infinity would reach Sanhelios, and Noble Team would once again stare down an army.

* * *

Noble Six and Jun ate in silence, nothing but the mission was on their minds, it was now 90 minutes until they arrived at their destination.

The time passed quickly for the lone wolf, several hours at the gym and a 5 hour nap can work wonders. The Spartan felt as if he could take on the entire Covenant fleet. The two Spartans quickly finished their breakfast and made their way to the S-deck where they would be outfitted with their Mk6 MJOLNIR armor.

The two super soldiers made it to their respected positions as the technicians with the help of autonomous robotic arms began to outfit the Spartans with their armor. The super soldiers were first layered with many of the inner components and then encased in the titanium weave that was flexible enough to allow fluid movement. The machines began attaching the heavy ship grade titanium-A battleplate to the Spartans - all 1000lbs of it, that plus Six's weight would mean that he weighs 1450lbs in armor. A technician handed Six his helmet who took it from the man's hands, nodded in appreciation, and placed the helmet on his head.

The heads up display lit up, showing his motion detector, shields, etc. He turned to his left to see Jun donning the same armor that he wore on Reach, the only difference is that it was Mark 6 armor instead of Mark 5.

Noble Six towered in his suit at 7'2, one inch taller than Jun. Six's armor was very basic with a few minor upgrades. His suit was the standard Mark 6 issued to all Spartan IIs. The difference being that the heavy titanium armor was coloured jet black instead of the usual green. A combat knife was attached horizontally across his chest and a tacpad was attached to his right arm.

"Good to be home isn't it Six?" said Jun referring to the comfort of MJOLNIR armor.

All Spartan's adore their armor like a second skin, after fighting with it for decades, all the original Spartans prefer to wear the armor instead of being without it and feeling 'naked'.

Six was no different. "I felt vulnerable without my armor, But it feels good to be back, now let's report to the captain." Jun nodded and turned around as Six followed him out of the S-deck and towards the bridge. Many of the UNSC personnel making way for the massive armoured figures which moved almost silently considering they were wearing half a ton of armor. MJOLNIR with its weight, was also extremely durable, in fact it was almost impervious to even high caliber armor piercing rounds. Recent tests showed that the titanium plates could withstand a direct hit from several 30mm armor piercing rounds before failing. Those same tests proved that the weaker titanium weave could withstand direct hits from several .50 rounds. MJOLNIR would give the opposition a hard time trying to cut down any Spartan II or III.

That is if they got through the energy shield.

The energy shield was reverse engineered from captured Covenant technology. Unlike the Mark 5, Mark 6 shield tech was much more advanced. UNSC shield concepts from the past were made a reality thanks to this technology. With unparalleled knowledge of projectile firearms, the UNSC made the shields of a Spartan even more resistant to bullets than usual. But the shield was slightly weaker than that of an ultra's when it came to dealing with plasma weapons or melee strikes.

All of this plus the fact that MJOLNIR made the user 5 times stronger and significantly faster, and decreased the Spartan's already absurd reaction time by a factor of 5. Six remembered being able to dodge a handful of bullets during tests, to his utter surprise.

These factors made the Spartans nigh invincible on the battlefield.

Six and Jun finally arrived at the bridge, and stepped in to find Lasky chatting away with Roland.

The super soldiers waited for the captain to finish his conversation with Infinity's AI before drawing closer to the captain and saluting him.

"Sir Noble Team reporting for duty." said the Spartans who held the salute firmly.

"At ease Noble." replied Lasky, his tiredness was not lost on Six as he and Jun stood at parade rest. The captain simply stared at the Spartans with the type of expression one would get upon being affected by poison ivy and trying not to scratch the affected area; pure irritation.

Lasky got to the point. "So, the two of you are already aware of the basics of this operation. But thanks to the help of our ONI friends, we were able to acquire accurate Covenant troop strength." Lasky sighed. "They have a battalion sized force supported by heavy armor guarding the command and control center."

That was anywhere between 800-1000 troops, too much for two Spartans to take head on, especially since they had the advantage of being on the defensive.

"Air support sir?" asked Jun not missing out on a single detail.

"No, thankfully all Covenant air support is hell bent on keeping the frontlines under control." Lasky replied, his calmness and composure returning in an instant.

Lasky continued. "You will be dropped off 15 klicks South of your objective. From there you will proceed to the objective area. Once target is destroyed give us the all clear and attempt to stall the enemy from retrieving the Forerunner artifact. Fleet will standby for assistance and exfil."

"Understood sir," replied both Spartans in unison which appeared to startle Lasky.

Lasky continued after taking a sip of coffee."Good, Six, I'm handing over Sigma back to you, he will provide situational awareness as well as hacking and guidance, if there is nothing else to say, then you are dismissed."

"Understood sir, Noble Team will get it done." said Six with pure determination in his voice. He always enjoyed a challenging mission, and this mission will definitely be a challenge for the Spartan.

Six accepted Sigma's AI chip from a bridge officer. The two super soldiers saluted before heading to one of the Infinity's many hangar bays to board their stealth transport.

Just another day on a suicide mission.

* * *

Sigma's voice broke the silence. "So how are my two favourite Spartan's doing?" said the AI, his smile evident from the tone of his voice.

"You sound happier than usual." replied Six as the hulking super soldier stepped to the side to allow a female scientist to pass through.

"I have found some wonderful information, thanks to my fantastic knowledge, about a certain artifact that a certain pair off Spartans have been tasked with retrieving as a secondary objective." said the AI.

Six grumbled inwardly; he hated when Sigma acted like this. "Sigma, why did you hack into the ONI prowler, I thought that is off limits."

Sigma chuckled, " Of course not, I used my charming personality to seduce the AI into surrendering its knowledge, which obviously pales in comparison to my own." the damnable AI was now smirking.

Now Sigma has activated his smartass mode, it didn't help that Six and Jun were about to face an entire Covenant battalion.

"Sigma, that is against the UNSC Security Act, you do not have the authorization to view that information." Six said sternly, frustrated with the AI's lack of restraint.

Sigma sighed. "Relax Six, it never hurts to have a bit of extra information. Thought you'd want to know what we could expect from this Forerunner artifact." Six only grunted in response, effectively stating 'It doesn't matter when you were a hair's width away from being decommissioned.'

Sometimes Sigma wondered who was really the machine.

* * *

The two Spartans finally arrived in one of the Infinity's many hangar bays where they approached the modified stealth pelican. Unlike the standard dropship, this iteration of the pelican replaced armor for special plating that can deflect radar waves and other forms of tracking equipment. It also came with its own active camouflage generator which makes it virtually invisible.

The two pilots took their positions in the cockpit of the stealth aircraft. While Noble Team boarded the troop bay. Inside was a small holotable in the center as well as several weapons, grenades, and extra ammunition that was secured to racks on both sides of the troop bay.

"Might as well prepare ourselves while we have the time." Said Jun as he picked up the famed SRS99-S5 AM sniper rifle. This weapon could fire a tungsten carbide 14.5x114mm round at 3500m/s. The reason it could reach such an absurd velocity is because of the advanced propellant in the shell casing that allowed such velocities to be attainable. That coupled with its weight of 309 grams ensured that anything it hits won't be moving anymore.

Noble Three also picked up an MA5D assault rifle and a M6H magnum pistol for close encounters.

Noble Six looked over the weapons, his tactical mind deciding on what type of weapons to bring with him based on enemy troop composition and combat environment.

His analysis suggested that the long to medium range engagement ranges called for the use of the M395 DMR, the presence of vehicles required a heavy weapon so Six attached a M41 SPNKR rocket launcher. Finally the close quarters engagements inside the enemy command and control center meant Six needed a suitable weapon for said CQC situations. The lone wolf settled for a pair of M20 SMGs. The Spartan gathered as much ammunition as he could carry, as well as 4 frag grenades.

The two spartans, now loaded for bear, took their positions around the holotable as the door to the troop bay closed and the pelican ascended up and out of the hangar bay.

Although Lasky briefed them on the mission already, the Spartans were anticipating the introduction of new mission specific information and were ready to receive it.

Suddenly, the holotable lit up and Lasky's face appeared, his calm expression changing to one of irritation as soon as the super soldiers saluted the captain.

"Sir, mission update?" asked Jun as both Spartans stood at parade rest.

Captain Lasky's irritated expression remained the same as he replied. "Yes Noble Team. Scans indicate that the Covenant Fleet oriented to face the planet. We believe they might be catching on to us. So now time is a factor. We need to take out Covenant presence in that region before that fleet can arrive and drop off more troops."

"Yes sir, anything else?" asked Six, expecting his current mission to be somehow more difficult.

"Negative, you are weapons free as soon as you are boots on the ground. You can complete the mission objective as you see fit, good luck Noble Team." Said Lasky before he vanished into thin air and the holotable reset to show the mission area.

"What is our course of action Six?" asked Jun after looking at the holotable for a second. Jun prefers Six to be in command after the war since he believed that Six was more qualified for the position. Noble Six politely refused only to give up after Jun's persistence became too great.

Six scrutinized the map, looking for any possible weak points or entries. "There is a nearby mountain range to the South of the primary objective area. It appears to be lightly guarded. We could make our way through the base with relative ease if we stick to that route."

Sigma spoke up. "I agree with this plan, perhaps with a bit of my technical expertise, I could hack into the enemy network and fool them into diverting more troops to the North side of the base, making entry even more convenient."

Jun provided his opinion. "I agree, but once we overload the reactor, the enemy will know that they've been infiltrated, the smart ones will evacuate the area sure, but we all know that not many in the Covenant are very smart so that complicates things."

Six nodded, understanding Jun's concerns. "The most likely enemy response routes will be here and here." Six pointed to two routes through the base which connect to one single path towards the front of the citadel. "Maybe we could somehow slow them down."

"Some kind of trap yes, but what could we use for such a task?" asked the AI wondering what the Spartan's unorthodox tactical brain was thinking about.

Jun turned his head to the side and spotted a large stack of C8 demolition charges. "Looks like Lasky made sure that we came prepared, we could use these explosives to really bring the pain." Jun said, the smirk obvious in his voice at the thought of the Covenant's obliteration.

"That's ridiculous Jun, these explosives can pierce through 5 meters of standard titanium, isn't that a little overkill?" said Sigma, the disbelief obvious in his voice.

Six chuckled; a rare display of emotion from him, especially during a mission. "Sigma, there's no kill like overkill." Jun chuckled and gave Six a thumbs up.

Sigma sighed in resignation, realizing he was powerless at preventing the Spartan's in ensuring the Covenant's imminent annihilation into elementary particles.

"What do you propose we do after we detonate the charges; we only have a limited time before the reactor vapourizes everything in the area." asked Jun, the question obvious in his voice as he looked over his sniper rifle for perhaps the tenth time.

"We use our active camouflage to retreat to the enemy camp holding the artifact and we hold off the Covenant and await UNSC back up." said Six, as if stating a well known fact.

The original Spartans were all given active camouflage modules after the war to add to their extreme combat skills. The device is far too expensive to mass produce and equip each Spartan IV with. But the Spartan IIs and IIIs made sure to take complete advantage to this new boost in their combat capabilities.

Jun didn't seem convinced. "The Covenant would just follow us from the citadel to the camp once we make a run for it."

"Our active camouflage should allow us to make it to the camp without being compromised, most of the troops would still try to hunt us down within the main base and make sure we don't escape not realizing we already have. The reactor explodes vapourizing all if not most of the battalion."

"Now that you put it that way, I think this plan will work." said Jun, chambering a new round into his sniper rifle in agreement.

"Glad you agree, Sigma, I'd recommend that you make preparations to hack into the enemy's command network." ordered Six with practiced authority.

* * *

"Of course Six, I'll get right on it." said the AI as he began to analyse the Covenant's firewalls.

It was quite basic but still very effective considering their weakened status. The system worked quite simply. In order for a signal or packet of data to be accepted in anyway, it would have to have the traditional Covenant algorithm scheme; which is still quite advanced by UNSC standards.

Failure to convince the system will result in the command and control system using its several nodes to trace and triangulate the signal to its origin; this means that camo or not the Covenant will know where they are and will send troops in the thousands against only two Spartans.

That was unacceptable.

They would be overwhelmed from the sheer number of hostiles before they even made it to the objective.

Sigma needed to wait for the proper time to slip in a packet of data through the firewalls along with a Covenant communication signal. The data would compile inside their systems and be ready for Sigma's command to send the fake 'under attack' message and divert some Covenant troops to move to the North; opposite of Noble's entry point.

Not only that, but the data packet will open up the entire Covenant battle net, showing all their positions along with troop composition and numbers. Sigma would have to relay that to the Infinity so they could pass it on to the friendly Swords of Sanghelios forces led by the Arbiter. Such information would be instrumental in retaking that territory.

Sigma waited, until the firewalls opened up to allow entry for a Covenant signal. In the span of a few microseconds, Sigma attached the data packet to the signal and was satisfied when he got the greenlight confirmation sent from the data packet that it is in position and is undetected.

"All done Six, I am now standing by the execute the diversion. Also, you should know that I have acquired the enemy's battle net." informed the AI, his avatar projecting a smirk on his face as he spoke.

The two Spartans' helmets snapped onto the AI's hologram. "You acquired the Covenant's troop positions? Excellent job Sigma." Six congratulated, although his voice held almost no emotion, Sigma knew that the Spartan meant it.

"Can you send it to the Infinity without the Covenant triangulating its position." asked Jun as he scrutinized the AI's hologram.

"Yes, but not until I activate the hidden data packet and execute the diversion. I can use the Covenant command and control center to send the information to the Infinity disguised as a Covenant signal. They will at first think that the Covenant is hailing him only to receive the Covenant's battle net information." replied the AI with a smug expression.

"Okay, everything is ready, mission is a go, ETA 30 seconds to touch." said Six as he unslung his rifle and chambered a round.

Sigma knew that this mission was as good as completed as the two massive super soldiers stepped out of the pelican and into the rising sun that marked the death of every non human that got in the way of Noble Team.

* * *

Another Kig Yar sniper tried to alert its corpse comrades as a jet black Spartan appeared from thin air like a vengeful spirit and pierced its brain with a combat knife, ending its life in an instant. Six and Jun have been at this for almost half an hour.

They had to 'slow down' their pace due to enemy patrols constantly paced around the mountain range. This is the second patrol they slaughtered however, as they were able to easily evade the others without bloodshed. This was easy going for the Spartans, since they knew very well the potential of how bad even just getting to the observation point marked by their trusty AI would be.

Six hid the body of the jackal underneath a small waterfall, he turned around to see Jun do the same carrying a pair of grunts and throwing them into the same hiding spot. Jun looked at Six who only gave a crisp nod and continue forward with Jun in tow.

Six enjoyed this very much; it reminded him of past missions he performed alone working for ONI as a black ops hitman. The fact that he was doing this similar type of mission with Jun only made him smile slightly as his head continued to turn on a swivel, looking for any threats, or the smallest out of place detail.

The two half ton super soldiers moved almost completely silently, which was an amazing feat considering their weight. They were like reapers that stalked through the woods, their golden visors spelling doom on their other worldly opponents as each step promised five deaths in return.

"Hold." said Six as the lone wolf and sniper crouched behind a rock large enough for both Spartans to hide behind. The chatter of two elites could be heard in the distance.

The Spartans didn't wait long as a pair of elite minors followed by ten grunts trudged along a path that would eventually pass adjacent to their hiding spot.

Six's mind whirred as he thought of every possible outcome of this situation and what to expect and not expect. Six had a gut feeling that if they were spotted this close to the base, then he would have to worry about more than just the patrol.

' _Good soldiers follow orders, better soldiers trust their gut.'_

Six turned off his external speakers. "Sigma track the patrol position and update me once they are out of sight."

"Affirmative." said Sigma, before going quiet again.

Six waited alongside Jun as their hearing picked up the light thumping noise of the heavy elites followed by the rambling the grunts pass by their hiding spot. The lone wolf's muscles tensed and coiled like a spring, ready to be activated at a moment's notice should they be spotted.

"Enemy patrol is out of visual range, you are cleared to proceed." Said the AI in a monotone voice, indicating Sigma's state of focus; constantly on the lookout for more enemy troops.

Noble Six took point again and kept one eye on his motion tracker at all times, expecting the unexpected.

"Observation position is 500 meters 12 O'clock." Notified Jun as he pointed his rifle to the right making sure nothing out of the ordinary was there as the two super soldiers continued to swiftly traverse the rocky desert like terrain towards their objective.

Spartans were trained to always be on guard. Their training so rigorous that even when eating at a ship's mess hall with friendly troops, their backs would stay impossibly straight with their hands on their knees as their eyes darted back and forth mapping every inch of the room for attack points and escape routes.

Not a single solitary second was wasted as Noble Team cautiously made their way to the objective. They spent their time wisely mapping out the entire area should more troops be committed to bringing down the Spartans.

Such details included likely sniper positions, drop points, ambush positions, and best escape routes for the Spartans should the mission go South.

"Hold position, we've reached the observation point." ordered Six quietly as both armored behemoths stopped and quickly took in their surroundings while simultaneously assuming the prone position to begin pre-mission execution recon.

Most of the defending forces were very relaxed, which was to be expected since they were so far behind the frontlines. A few squads were patrolling throughout the dirt roads which separated the various buildings made using traditional Covenant architecture. To the West as a large assortment of vehicles, some operational, and others undergoing repairs.

' _Good, some of their heavy armor is inoperable.'_ Thought Six as he continued observing the enemy. Any advantage would be needed for Noble Team in this situation.

To the East was a narrow and somewhat shallow canyon that led to a smaller enemy camp that contained the Forerunner device which was their secondary objective. The canyon would be invaluable in helping to shield the Spartans from when the citadel's reactor erupts.

The citadel was easy to see. The base of the structure sloped upward until it reached the tower at the top. This tower was suspended in the air above the main structure by some form of anti gravity generation. In total, the structure probably stood at a height of 300 meters, and was large enough the fit several of the Covenant's scarab heavy assault platforms.

"Sigma, I want you to begin that little diversion of yours." said the stoic Spartan as he waited for the promised results.

"Understood Six, let's give them something to worry about shall we?" smirked the AI as he went silent, presumably preparing his diversion.

Jun spoke up. "This is risky Six, we are severely outnumbered, are you sure we checked everything?"

Six replied. "Yes Jun I went over all of the variables, if we play our cards right then we won't have anything to worry about."

Six observed and smiled slightly as an alarm sounded and an elite's voice blared over several speakers placed throughout the base in its language. The result was almost instant and most of the Covenant troops grouped to the North and assumed defensive positions, expecting enemy infiltrators to attack through the open desert that left their resupply points exposed.

The hyper lethal knew that now was the time to go; Noble Team needed to take advantage of the distraction and overload the reactor before the distracted Covenant swarmed them.

The two Spartans didn't say a word to each other, they already knew what to do. Like a pair of deathly wraiths, the Spartans cloaked and silently made their way towards their victims.

It didn't take long for the super soldiers to arrive at the very edge of their base, their cloaking devices having now turned off to begin recharging.

Six hid behind a wraith and watched a trio of grunts waddle by him, their lack of discipline and awareness will prove to be their downfall. The lone wolf ran across the dirt road and made it to the other side as Jun covered him.

Their plan was to preserve their active camo and get to the citadel as close as they possibly could before reactivated their cloaking devices and sneaking into the building.

"Six there's a squad of elites moving in on your 1 O'clock." warned Sigma as Six and Jun silently dove behind and small Covenant tent. Not a moment too soon 6 elite minors trudged along the dirt path speaking in their ridiculous language. 2 of them stopped and made their way to Noble's location after waving to the other group which continued their course away from the Spartans.

"We'll have to drop them." said Jun, reading out Six's thoughts aloud.

The hyper lethal nodded, unsheathed his combat knife, and tensed up, ready to uncoil and attack.

Jun did the same and waited for their prey to stalk closer…. They were now living a doomed existence.

Six lunged towards the left most elite and Jun did the same to the other one. The half ton titanium soldiers nothing more than a blur to the inexperienced warriors as they simultaneously plunged their knives into the heads of the aliens. The two young warriors both fell to the ground soundlessly, purple blood oozed through the gruesome punctures in their skulls as their executors hid their bodies inside the tent.

"It won't be long until they discover the dead, we should move." said Jun to which Six only nodded in response before once again taking point and moving through the shadows made by the Covenant buildings.

"Noble Team, you are now 100 meters away from the main objective, no enemy patrols within a 150 meter radius so you should be clear for now." said Sigma, breaking the silence and confirming to the Spartans that they should pick up their pace.

"Understood, thanks Sigma." replied the hyper lethal as he nodded to Jun and the two continued their course towards the enemy's annihilation.

Noble Team cloaked, now almost invisible to the enemy, and continued at a faster pace towards, their main structure. They travelled in between the base's many tents and other structure until they stopped.

The entrance to the citadel opened up like a great big maw, as if anything that enters will be swallowed whole and lost forever to its grasp.

"Jun now would be a good time to set up the traps." ordered Six as he began placing the small but powerful explosives on the dirt road to the right of the entrance. The Spartans dug small holes and placed a charge into said hole, covering it up of course.

They regrouped at the front of the entrance after expending all of their explosive charges.

The two Spartans exchanged glances. "It's now or never Six." the two Spartans continued into the maw, preparing to be swallowed whole as long as the great big monster died.

"I'm picking up lots of Covenant chatter inside the structure be careful, I've marked the quickest route to the reactor, you can't miss it." Informed SIx's AI as Noble Team casually strode through the foreign structure.

Six knew that they can't continue sneaking like this; there were far too many hostiles in such a close quarters area for that to be possible, and they needed to save their active camouflage in order to get to the secondary objective without being gunned down.

Jun had the same thoughts as Six and tensed up as a large squad composed of two dozen grunts started heading their way through the hallway.

"Noble Team, I suggest you maneuver around that squad right now." warned Sigma. If Six didn't know any better, he'd thought that even the AI has tensed up.

"Negative, we've already been compromised, time is of the essence, we are going loud." said the lone wolf, as if the entire galaxy already knew his answer to the AI, his voice somehow deep enough to be mistaken for that of an elite's.

"Affirmative, on your mark." Jun readied himself and Six did the same.

Time slowed down and now the grunts' slow waddle was slow enough for them to look like they were walking neck deep in water. A gauntleted hand suddenly found itself clutching a grenade as the victims drew closer, unaware that their doom was just around the corner.

"Mark."

A grenade soared through the air in slow motion towards the center of the squad as the two titanium soldiers shouldered their rifles and opened fire.

The storm of 7.62 mm rounds shredded through light armor and flesh, claiming the lives of a dozen grunts before the grenade settled on the ground and exploded, shredding the other half of the squad.

That was only 5 seconds worth of slaughter.

"We need to move fast before they pile on us." said Jun as the two Spartans moved through the door only to run into a massive room filled with dozens of Covenant.

"10-4." confirmed Six as the two super soldiers took cover behind a large purple barricade which took the brunt of the absurd plasma fire. Six observed the room; it was very large, in the middle was nothing but open space, across from Noble Team was a series of platforms guarded by plasma turrets and along the sides were several different types of supplies including some damaged vehicles.

They need a plan.

"Sigma suggestions?" questioned the hyper lethal as he shouldered his rifle and began picking of the Covenant several grunts fell as well as a minor elite thanks to his precise fire.

"Flank right, their forces are weak there, most of their light troops appear to be attempting to rush your left side, I recommend wiping out they rear guard and hitting their cannon fodder from two sides." instructed the AI as Six instantly complied. A burst of speed made him a blur to the eyes of the Covenant as Jun picked off targets one by one with his sniper rifle.

The armoured behemoth rounded the corner of a wall and found himself face to face with a squad of stealth elites attempting to flank the Spartans.

Six didn't even think as his body worked in autopilot thanks to his childhood of the most intense military training humanity had to offer.

Six replaced his DMR with his dual submachine guns and let loose a terrifying storm of armor piercing bullets upon the would be assassins. The bullets knocked out their shields and tore through the armor and flesh of two of the elites.

A split second later the hyper lethal dove into cover to avoid the plasma storm emitted from the two remaining combatants. He reloaded his smgs and threw himself out of cover, rolled, crouched, and opened up again, this time, they were ready. The first elite charged at the Spartan with his energy sword drawn while the second one utilized its carbine to give Six two things to worry about.

The Spartan rolled again to the side. The elite roared as his comrade shot him in the back thanks to the Spartan's trick. The lone wolf lunged at the distracted elite, who attempted to back hand Six with the sword, only to receive a broken wrist and a missing energy sword.

Six cut the elite's stomach with the tip of the plasma sword and smashed his heel into its stomach, denting armour and crushing its chest. The corpse slid across the purple metallic floor back towards the last elite who stared at the corpse in shock.

Rookie mistake.

The super soldier moved with a speed that belied his size and in an instant, the elite found itself halved by the Spartan.

Without even acknowledging his victory, Six sprinted with a speed that spelled death as he rammed his half ton weight into a pair a terrified jackals, crushing their fragile bones like cardboard as he continued his rampage.

Six spotted a large platform about 35 feet above the floor and a now occupied wraith that was spinning its devastating plasma mortar towards Six.

The hyper lethal accepted the challenge with a small smile as his massive armored figure once again became a blur. Six readied his rocket launcher as he used the wraith like a ramp to get up to the platform. His left foot found purchase on the hatch of the vehicle, followed by his right foot which landed on the plasma mortar.

The Spartan sailed through the air like a javelin. He looked back at the wraith and fired a single rocket. It pierced through the light armored plasma mortar and the Covenant tank erupted in a geyser of purple and blue flames. Plums of smoke rose up into the ceiling as Six switched to his smgs.

The Spartan landed directly on the head of an elite ultra trying to rally the defenses. The soldier's half ton weight crushing its skull and killing it instantly. The rest of the Covenant looked at the demon with fear as a few of them took a step back.

Two of the elites charged at the menacing Spartan before dropping to the floor...

Another elite followed along with a Kig Yar marksman on another platform to Six's right side. It was Jun the unmistakable sound of his sniper rifle echoing in the back confirmed the deaths of the Covenant as more rounds found their marks in the skulls of the aliens.

The lone wolf ignored the spectacle of the Covenant being dropped one by one like dominos and lunged forward to no enemy in particular.

But that was the unpredictable Spartan's intention.

His smgs barked on either side of him as the remaining jackals and grunts collapsed to the ground like sacks of potatoes.

Six cleared the platform easily and turned his attention to a tripod mounted plasma turret as well as the three dozen or so grunts and jackals approaching Jun's position.

The soldier silently placed his gauntlets on the handles and trigger, aimed, and fired.

The effects were devastating.

The plasma rounds were ejected from the weapon at a terrifying fire rate. They melted through armor and flesh like and acid. Six spotted his brother emerge from cover with his assault rifle, and let loose a magazine of armor piercing bullets. It only took 15 or so seconds of prolonged fire from both directions to completely obliterate the attackers.

"Thanks for the assist Six, I will attack the enemy from the left, you continue along the right and we'll hit their position from both sides." said Jun, his voice one of appreciation.

"Affirmative, oscar mike." replied Six in a firm voice that stated 'they're already dead'.

The hyper lethal continued along the catwalk that connected the upper platforms. Six came across the final group of enemies below him, guarding a rather large door.

"Sigma, what are they defending?" asked Six, half of him knowing the answer.

"That would be the door to the reactor, I'd hurry up if I were you; Covenant forces are beginning to get rather suspicious and some of them appear to be positioning themselves outside the citadel. I don't know about you but I heard that bad things happen to Spartans when they are trapped inside a building outnumbered a few hundred to one." answered Sigma, his voice tinged with too much smartassery for Six's liking.

"Understood Sigma, Jun on my mark we perform a synchronized attack on the defending squad." Said Six, his acknowledgment light blinked green meaning Jun was ready.

These hostiles were tougher; 6 minors and a pair of ultras lead by a zealot were in various positions around the door. They forgot to watch the platforms however.

That would be their downfall.

Six readied his rocket launcher, its second tube still had a rocket in it, and Six still had two extra rockets to use. He aimed at the two ultras standing side by side, and fired.

The rocket impacted between the two white warriors and exploded. Shrapnel pierced their bodies, said bodies were ripped apart from the explosion, with a leg and two arms being severed in total. Blood painted the walls around them as Six jumped and landed knife first onto the skull of a minor elite.

Jun fired off two bullets from his sniper rifle at the zealot. Both tungsten carbide rounds found their mark as the once great warrior became a lifeless addition to Noble Team's kill count. The remaining elites opened fire at Six, whose shields failed with the sheer combined firepower at close range.

The hyper lethal dove to cover as another sniper discharge could be heard, a corpse was added to the grave.

Six waited for his shields to recharge and vaulted over the cover just in time to see another elite's head explode from Jun's hand cannon. The jet black Spartan dove underneath an elite's fist and then came back up with an uppercut. The elites head snapped up and then down only to get a faceful of lead from a pair of smgs from a certain super soldier. Six spun around and caught the last elite's fist. The armoured human spun around, placed the elite's arm over his shoulder, and performed a judo throw on the elite, effortlessly slamming the several hundred pound alien on the ground. The wind was knocked from the alien as it looked up and saw a half ton armoured boot collide with its face.

Without saying a word, Noble Team moved into the door and continued through a hallway until they found another door, this one appeared to be more resistant than the last door.

"Reactor is just through this door, I'm not detecting any signs of life, give me a second and I'll have it open." informed Sigma in a neutral voice as he went quiet once again.

The two Spartans watched the route from which they arrived for any signs of the enemy.

Nothing came.

The door suddenly opened and revealed a white light almost too bright to look at; the reactor. Their visors polarized to compensate for the incredibly bright light. Six came across a console with a slot for Sigma's AI chip. Wordlessly, he removed Sigma from the back of his helmet and placed him in the Covenant's system.

"Standby, this reactor is as good as elementary particles when I'm done with it." smirked the AI as the two Spartans kept their weapons trained on the door.

Without warning, an alarm went off, it sounded similar to the alarm a scarab emitted prior to its destruction.

"Done, let's get out of here, we only have 8 minutes." warned the AI as Six placed his chip in his helmet.

The two Spartans entered a full sprint and frantically ran past the dozens of dead Covenant.

' _Where is the enemy reinforcements?'_ thought Six as they continued to the main entrance without meeting any resistance.

"Hold." ordered Six before they made it to the entrance.

"What's wrong?" asked Sigma as Six began a weapons check; his gut told him something was wrong, and he wasn't going to lose trust in it after it has saved his life so many times.

"Run a scan on the outer perimeter of the citadel." Six knew what the AI was going to say.

"Commencing scan… oh… that's not good. Half the battalion is waiting for you while the other half is still maintaining defensives posture on the outer perimeter of the base." Sigma said, his voice tinged with worry.

"Our only chance is to perform a fighting retreat out of the base towards our secondary objective." stated Six, as if it was obvious to every casual observer.

"Are you crazy!? There is no point in going to the secondary objective. You'll be killed!" Sigma practically yelled at Six.

The Spartan shook his head before replying. "We were outnumbered on Reach several thousand to one, we were outnumbered against the flood and the Covenant on the Ark. We were outnumbered against the Prometheans on Requiem. For the entire war we faced insurmountable odds and always came out on top."

"This is different." stated Sigma, now he was slightly panicking.

"No it is not, it is our duty as Spartans to complete our objectives to protect and advance humanity, even if it means dying for it. We press on to complete our mission, a few hundred Covenant won't stand in our way, it didn't on Reach." stated Six, his voice filled with so much determination, that his body practically burned to be let loose on the Covenant like a rabid dog.

Six beamed at the idea of completing his mission, his hyper lethal status fueled by that drive, and any minor fatigue from previous fighting was now gone in an instant. Adrenaline filled his blood as the doors seemed to become slower and slower as they opened.

Only one word filled his subconscious mind; win.

That one word kept repeating itself in Six's mind as the doors opened further.

 _Win, win, WIN._

They knew where to go, the secondary objective must be accomplished, otherwise Six would fail himself in being a true Spartan… that cannot happen.

It WILL not happen.

"Give them hell." Was all Six said before the two Spartans became blurs in the storm of plasma.

* * *

Sigma was panicking; Six and Jun are going to get themselves killed. He did not care how the Spartans survived Reach and the rest of the war. Sigma did not care if this was just another mission for the Spartans. No one is invincible, not even Noble Team. Although this Forerunner artifact has the potential to send humanity decades into whatever technology it was, Sigma did not think for one solitary second that it was worth the lives of the remaining Noble Team members.

But Sigma knew better than to try to press further and convince the Spartans to not press on; it was like telling a Spartan to give up, and Spartans never give up. He could only watch and hope that they make it out of this in one piece. Sigma wanted to desperately signal the Infinity to move in and wipe out the Covenant to save Noble Team but he couldn't. The command and control center is still operational until the reactor explodes, any attempts of communication to the Infinity will alert the Covenant fleet which is exactly what they don't want to do. They were truly alone, unlike all those other times where Six and Jun were backed up by other Spartans, elites, or a platoon of marines. No, they were truly alone.

Jun was making short work of the Covenant troops that he picked off with his rifle, opting to target the more dangerous threats first. Six was a blur as his limbs worked tirelessly, mutilating Covenant troops in hand to hand combat or pumping their bodies full of lead.

Sigma has seen the two Spartans fight dozens of times destroy entire platoons or even companies, and even board and destroy ships. But this? This was amazing; they were cutting down dozens of Covenant troops as they began making their way towards the secondary objective. Sigma for a second thought that maybe this wasn't as bad as he anticipated… until he saw the Covenant's response to the massacre.

"Noble Team, the Covenant have 4 wraiths coming in from the West!" exclaimed the AI, his emotional capacitors overwhelmed with dread and worry.

"Noble Six, however, couldn't care less. "Jun, cover me, I'll deal with the wraiths." The Spartan didn't wait for a response, he simply sprinted to the left of the tank platoon, while avoiding an overwhelming amount of plasma fire from the slowly advancing Covenant infantry.

The hyper lethal reloaded his rocket launcher mid sprint, circled behind the wraiths, and fired twice. Each anti tank rocket impacted the rear of a wraith; their weak points, and plunged their HEAT warhead payload into the alien tanks. Both vehicles erupted into a fantastic display of blue and purple flames as smoke rose rapidly into the air.

The remaining two wraiths turned to face the Spartan as he reloaded his rocket launcher.

If Sigma had a heart, he'd probably have a heart attack right now.

"Jun, do something." Sigma panicked.

The calm slavic accent of Jun responded. "Relax Sigma, I got this."

Sigma wondered what the sniper had planned. His question was answered as four sniper shots slammed into the rear engine compartment of the left most wraith. Thanks to Jun's supernatural accuracy, all four rounds hit the exact same point on the engine, guaranteeing penetration. The wraith did not explode, but its engine was disabled and the wraith's anti gravity capabilities shut off. The massive vehicle fell to the ground with a massive thump.

Sigma observed as Six loaded his last two rockets, took aim at the last wraith, and fired twice. A single rocket cannot kill a wraith from the front, but two can if the hit the exact same point of the armor.

Sigma watched as the two missiles soared towards the wraith at frightening speeds.

The first rocket impacted the armor, severely denting and weakening it for the second rocket, which pierced the armor and the inner components were blown to pieces. The wraith became of wonderful blue and purple bonfire.

"Well done Spartans, now move!." Sigma sighed, that was close; those two wraiths could have vapourized Six easily. Sigma watched as Six's shields blinked off from the prolonged plasma fire the AI panicked when a plasma bolt struck Six's armor. He calmed down when he realized that that single bolt didn't do much to faze the Spartan, the heat dispersion coating melted off but the armor didn't really change aside from that.

"You need to be careful Six, that stunt with the wraiths was stupid." Sigma sighed knowing what he said fell on deaf ears. Six tends to put himself in danger a lot more than what is necessary. Always willing to sacrifice himself no matter what. Sigma worried for him a lot. _I hope you know what you are doing Six'._ thought Sigma as he watched Noble Team retreat to the small canyon.

Sigma then remembered something. "Six why haven't you detonated the explosive traps." asked Sigma, wondering why the trap has not been utilized.

"Just wait for it Sigma." assured Six as he turned around to open fire on the Covenant infantry.

As if to answer Six's assurance, about 8 wraiths loomed over a small hill and continued along the dirt road parallel to the citadel. Sigma observed the vehicles as the first one passed over the closest trap to the Spartans.

"Now Sigma." ordered Six calmly, not caring in the slightest at the magnitude of destruction that was about to befall the unlucky Covenant forces.

"Detonating right now." confirmed the AI.

The ground shook, as if the tectonic plates have shifted underneath the Spartans. A massive explosion rocked the Covenant forces, sending smoke and shrapnel skyhigh.

The wraiths were obliterated into tiny pieces of metal and dozens of Covenant infantry were incinerated in the blast.

Sigma was impressed with the unorthodox tactics of the super soldiers, but realized that it still was not enough; there was just too many of them.

"ETA on reactor detonation is 2 minutes, fallback NOW." shouted the AI with a force that he usually doesn't possess.

Both Spartans wordlessly spun around and sprinted at an amazing speed of 90km/h, MJOLNIR allowed for even higher speeds to be attained, but the large amount of strain would result in a torn achilles tendon, a Spartan could easily handle this pain, but it's better to maintain the most amount of combat efficiency possible.

Sigma's 'eyes' widened when he realized that the reactor would explode in 15 seconds. "Noble Team get behind something NOW." the Spartans the Spartans complied instantly and dove behind a massive rock. They both polarized their visors to protect their eyes from the blinding light that is to come.

An incredibly bright flash, bright enough to rival the sun, bore through their visors and blinded them temporarily like a flashbang. A massive shockwave knocked both Spartans to their backs and the next thing that followed was a bang that would have probably ruptured their ear drums had they been closer. The flash died down and a blanket of black smoke covered the sky. Chunks of rock was thrown everywhere and even a portion of the canyon was obliterated.

Sigma detected no signs of life from what used to be a base. "All of them are dead Noble Team, the secondary objective is 3 klicks to the East."

Without of a word, Noble Team pressed on into the unknown, without so much as a glance at the destruction behind them.

* * *

Noble Six was satisfied with the outcome of the primary objective; not only has Noble Team wiped out the only thing keeping the Covenant ground troops organized, but they also spelled their doom with the imminent arrival of the Infinity and her frigate escort.

The elimination of the defending battalion came as a bonus.

"Infinity actual, this is Noble actual, how copy over?" Six wanted to make sure that the Infinity was enroute to their position; the Covenant is sure to send troops their way, that explosion definitely got their attention.

Six heard Lasky's voice instead of the communications officer which surprised him. "Infinity actual copies, I assume that since you are communicating with us, the main objective has been neutralized?" asked Lasky in a flat voice that already knew the answer to the question.

Six and Jun stopped; they were only 500 meters from the secondary objective location. "Yes sir, Noble Team is oscar mike to secondary objective."

"Copy that Noble, UAV recon suggests at company sized defence force around the secondary objective with more hostiles massing 50 klicks on all sides, ETA on Infinity's arrival is 30 mikes, how copy over?"

Six grimaced; they had to face down hundreds of Covenant for 30 minutes before support arrived.

"Noble Team copies sir, we will clear out the enemy camp and assume a defensive posture until the Infinity arrives."

There was a pause, and Six thought he heard a sigh. "Understood Noble actual, good luck." Lasky went silent, they were on their own again.

Sigma spoke up. "Six, this is suicide that is too much time you have to spend facing down an army."

Noble Six wasn't having none of it. "Sigma, it matters not the magnitude of the enemy, nor the low chances of survival. What matters is the completion of the mission objective, and the preservation of the rest of the team. We go where the enemy is the greatest because we are the best, this is just another mission Sigma, all of my missions have been considered suicide anyways." Sigma sighed in defeat.

"Just worried about you Six." was all Sigma said before going silent.

"Status Jun?" asked Six as he checked his own weapons, making sure all mission personnel and equipment is performing at peak efficiency.

"Green." replied Jun.

The two Spartans arrived at ground level and faced the camp, its forces spread out on all angles

Six got straight to the point. "Sigma, what is the magnitude of the defence force and ETA of enemy reinforcements?"

A second passed before Sigma replied. "I estimate about 100 light infantry units defending the camp. ETA of enemy reinforcements is about 10 minutes.

"Shock and awe tactics are required to quickly clear the camp before the enemy arrives. This shouldn't be difficult considering the lack of vehicles and specialized or heavy infantry." said Jun as Six considered his strategy.

"I agree, we need to do this quickly, pick them off from a distance before closing in." ordered Six as he shouldered his DMR.

Jun chuckled. "With pleasure."

"Sigma, keep monitoring the Covenant forces for any changes in movement."

"Understood." replied Sigma as he dove back into the Covenant's battlenet.

Jun waited for Six to give the command, barely able to keep the finger off his trigger as he scoped in on an ultra elite; the company's commander.

"Weapons free." was all that the lone wolf said before opening up with a storm of precise fire, downing a squad of unprepared grunts right after Jun placed a tungsten bullet right between the eyes of the camp commander.

The Covenant defenders did not know it yet, but they're already dead.

* * *

Sigma was currently analyzing the Covenant's battlenet for any intel not yet known to Noble Team and found nothing.

Satisfied, Sigma began to think about Six.

' _Why is he so willing to put himself in danger like this just to complete a secondary objective?'_

Sigma has been with Six for the past 4 years, and he has learned a lot about the quiet Spartan. Sigma noticed that Six only talks often in the presence of Jun; the only other survivor of Noble Team.

HIGHCOM and ONI haven't been forthcoming when it came to giving up files on Noble Six. Being a former Spartan III black ops hitman for ONI that doesn't officially exist tends to do that to one's personal file. Almost his entire file has been inked out.

Sigma did however remember Cortana passing on a few files about the hyper lethal to him once; she was much better at hacking into ONI databases, despite the obvious act of hostility, she herself did not like ONI either.

Sigma read through Six's file many times. Although his homeworld is classified, Six was born on 2531 and recruited into the Spartan III program on 2537 at the age of 6. Six became an active Spartan at the age of 12 on 2543.

' _What the hell? Only 12?'_ Sigma could not believe what he was reading; Six was fighting a genocidal alien empire at the age of 12. Similarly ONI sent 12 year old augmented supersoldiers on a suicide mission as expendable Spartans. Sigma didn't believe that ONI could get anymore unethical… until he read this.

Sigma's emotional capacitors overloaded with so much anger, that if it was thermal energy, it would make the glassing of Reach look like a campfire in comparison to a supernova.

Sigma couldn't reveal this information to anyone however. It would result in a political shitstorm the likes of which humanity has never seen before, not to mention the blood hungry citizens out for ONI's blood. It just wasn't worth it.

The AI continued reading. Spartan Kurt-051 disagreed with wasting these Spartans on suicide missions and secretly pulled out Spartans too valuable to be wasted, such as Six and the other Spartan IIIs of Noble Team.

Noble Six prefered to work alone, he was utilized by ONI to carry out covert missions which included assassinations and sabotage. Six has made entire groups of rebels and Covenant disappear without a trace.

His first team was actually Noble Team; Spartans just like him, his brothers and sisters in arms.

 _That's why he cared so much for them.'_ though Sigma as he continued reading. Six isn't used to losing teammates especially Spartans. Six believes it is his mission to protect Noble Team as well as humanity. His drive to win strengthened that, he wanted to complete all of his missions while simultaneously ensuring Noble's survival and the survival of innocent humans.

' _He is overworking himself_ , _Six doesn't understand that there will be casualties and that he can't always control that outcome."_

Six is only 27, but his combat experience is something you'd expect from a grizzled drill sergeant that has seen at least 30 years of combat.

Sigma scrolled through the file some more; Six's family was apparently slaughtered in front of him by Covenant elites.

' _That explains his fierce hatred for Covenant or anything that goes against the peace of humanity, his drive for success is incredible.'_ Sigma understood why Six is willing to do all of this.

Mike wants to redeem himself for the loss of Noble, he wants to fulfill his duty of being humanity's protector, a Spartan. He wants to see the enemies of Humanity's peace burn, so that no one must suffer the way he did.

Sigma felt pity for the Spartan on a level that he's never felt before.

Before Sigma continued however, he checked the progress of the Covenant reinforcements and almost had a panic attack overload his senses; they were a minute out.

The AI checked Noble's progress and realized they cleared out the Covenant troop a minute and a half ago.

Sigma mentally cursed himself for being so lost in his investigations and warned Noble.

"ETA on enemy reinforcements is 1 minute." Sigma sighed; they had to hold out against insurmountable odds for 21 minutes.

Sigma could only watch, as the tide of aliens rushed forward to consume the Spartans.

* * *

Spartan B312 checked his motion tracker and was satisfied when it came clean. It didn't take them long to wipe out the company of aliens troops. The grunts and jackals were easily picked off from long and medium range while the handful of elite minors didn't last long. Jun however was hit twice by a plasma rifle with his shields down. Thankfully the damage was marginal, only two small dents on his chestplate.

"ETA on enemy forces is 1 minute." stated his trusty AI as Six began to check his weapons once more.

"Copy that Sigma. Jun gather enemy weapons and stack them in front of the objective building." ordered Six to which Jun only nodded before heading out.

The Forerunner artifact was inside of a Covenant temple structure, they still interpreted the Forerunners as gods. The artifact was locked inside some sort of large containment device but its presence was confirmed thanks to MJOLNIR's scanners.

Noble Team placed several Covenant weapons around the building to aid in their defence; their UNSC weapons almost out of ammo.

"Covenant troops sighted, they have us surrounded." reported Jun as the two Spartans positioned themselves in front of the temple's entrance.

"Weapons free, don't let them get close." Ordered Six as a well placed shot found purchase inside the skull of a jackal.

The two super soldiers opened fire, firing their precise weapons at a high rate of fire. To the casual observer, firing that quickly is impractical for precise shooting at long ranges. But the supernatural accuracy of the super soldiers would defy popular belief; not a single shot missed its mark. Jun's high powered rifle bored holes through the skulls of the elites while six mowed down the lighter armoured grunts and jackals, their body count now in the dozens from 5 minutes worth of shooting.

Sigma cursed. "4 hunters approaching from the south." Six turned to the left and saw the walking tanks running at a surprisingly fast speed for their size. The lone wolf looked down and shouldered a stolen Covenant fuel rod cannon.

The enemy opened fire.

A storm of inaccurate plasma fire saturated the Spartans' position, only a handful of the rounds hit their shields with little effect. Mike aimed at one of the hunters and fired his entire 5 round clip into the behemoth.

All 5 shots impacted the walking tank… it didn't die, its massive shield blocking a lot of the damage.

The hunter charged up its cannon, aimed at Six, and fired. The Spartan reacted automatically and dove out of the way as the green projectile flew past the temple and actually impacted near a group of grunts, the explosion killed a few of them.

The airborne Spartan landed with a roll and loaded the heavy weapon. Six aimed.. Only to see the other three hunters firing their weapons off. The titanium soldier rolled… no use.

Two of the shots flew by the Spartan, but a third impacted about 3 meters in front of the Spartan, knocking out his shields. The suppressive fire from the rest of the Covenant infantry impacting his armor. The burning sensation that followed would have been quite painful to any normal human, but Six didn't even flinch. The lone wolf crouched behind a Covenant barrier and examined his armor as his shields recharged; just a few burns and dents, good.

The Spartan rose from cover and aimed at the hunter once again. Trying a new tactic, the Spartan opened up with his weapon, the shots landed underneath the hunter, that way its heavy shield wouldn't block the damage. It had its desired effect as the hunter crumpled to the ground with a resounding thump.

Before the rounds even impacted its target, Six was already reloaded and firing at a second of the walking tanks… it met the same fate as the last.

Mike's fuel rod ran out, eliciting a sigh from the veteran as he cast aside the weapon and prepared to do what most would consider suicide.

"Six, you can't be serious." said Sigma; he knew what the Spartan was planning on doing.

"It's the only way." replied the stoic Spartan as he stood up from his cover.

With no heavy weapons and limited ammo with his fellow Spartan at risk from the hunter pair, Six had to get up close and personal with these walking tanks; very dangerous even for a Spartan. The 2 ton shields they carry can cut a Spartan in half easily.

"Six?" questioned Jun, his voice tinged with a little worry.

"I'll take care of the hunters, maintain fire on the rest of the enemy." Six's monotone voice boomed over the comms, filled with determination as the voice returned.

' _Win, win, you are no Spartan if you can't win.'_ it said, rather harshly.

' _I am a Spartan.'_ though Six as he inaudibly growled.

The massive super soldier dashed with a speed present only in the supernatural. The hyper lethal shot forward like a bullet and jumped over a horizontal swipe of a hunter's shield. The Spartan placed his gauntlets on the hunter's 'shoulders' mid flight and performed a cartwheel on top of the hunter, much to the awe of the enemy, some of them even stopped firing to watch the spectacle... Jun didn't.

Six now having performed his magnificent maneuver, latched onto the spikes on the walking tank's back like a tick. The giant lekgolo colony thought fast and turned its back, along with the Spartan, towards its bond brother who was already charging its cannon.

Six anticipated such a possibility and jumped off of the hunter as the bright green projectile flew over him. It impacted all of the exposed worms on the back of the hunter, its heat practically vaporizing a huge portion of the walking colony. The massive combatant face planted as the nimble Spartan landed on his feet and side stepped the downwards strike of the second hunter, its massive shield shook the ground a little as it impacted the desert floor. The hyper lethal moved to the rear of the large opponent and withdrew a plasma grenade captured from fallen Covenant defenders.

He primed the grenade and used his strength to punch the grenade in between the lekgolo worms inside the hunter's armor.

The hunter swung its shield at the Spartan as Six rolled underneath the attack and jumped back to avoid the explosion.

There was a white and blue flash as several pieces of lekgolo worm was launched in all directions from the force of the blast. The armor simply fell to the ground like a sack of potatoes being too heavy for the shockwave to move.

"That was amazing." came the awed voice of Sigma, not quite expecting Six to dispatch a pair of hunters so quickly in close quarters combat.

The Covenant that stopped firing joined the rest of their brethren in attempting to gun down the Spartans as they advanced closer.

Six evaded some of the fire and joined Jun in their regular defensive posture.

The Covenant drew closer.

"This isn't looking good Six, at this rate, they'll pile on top of us." stated Jun in a disapproving voice.

"Just need to keep them at a good distance to prevent that." came the quick reply of Six between precise shots that demoralized the enemy.

The tide approached closer and unwavering in the face of supernatural accuracy and invincible determination.

The plasma fire intensified and became more accurate. Six switched to a Covenant carbine and used its higher rate of fire and larger magazine size to mow down even more enemies, even though it did less damage than his high powered dmr, all it took was one shot to the head to end an unshielded enemy.

Jun found himself in the same boat as Six and utilized a Covenant beam rifle to similar effect; wiping out the shielded Covenant elites.

With the amount of non stop shooting, Six estimated a combined body count of well over 200. Their kill rate,however, diminished rapidly as the storm of plasma fire intensified and kept the super soldiers in cover more often.

"Sigma, what's the ETA on reinforcements?" asked Six in his normal calm and emotionless voice despite the perilous situation of Noble Team.

"10 minutes, I hope you two have it in you to hold out for that long." said Sigma as he silently observed the Covenant forces.

Six simply grunted in response - the voice returned. _'You are the sword and shield of humanity, born from the ashes of war to carry the burden of billions. You are the indestructible driving force with the sole purpose of serving Earth and all of her colonies. You are destined to do so, you are destined to WIN.'_

Time slowed down to almost a crawl, the Spartan's weapon switched to targets so fast that it was nothing but a blur. Six downed enemies at an unprecedented rate, supporting his hyper lethal designation.

Many of the closer Covenant warriors stopped firing for a second; not quite believing what they were seeing.

The tide continued.

" _Out of ammo, switching to a new weapon."_ Came the now distant voice of Jun. Six heard it, but did not acknowledge it; his mind focused on redemption.

" _You have faced insurmountable odds and succeeded in rekindling humanity's fire, you have won against the destroyers of your species, you have won against the parasite, and you have won against opponents eons more knowledgeable in weapons of war than you. You will continue to win, in Noble Team's honour. The fallen's flame will be carried by the champion.'_

Six's adrenal glands pumped more and more adrenaline into his bloodstream as the tide of enemies weaken beneath his might.

The tide continued unperturbed.

But the lone wolf did not give up… he never will.

"Enemy Wraith approaching from the East." Sigma informed.

Six saw the wraith looming towards them, it lazily floated towards Noble's position. The tank stopped, aimed its plasma mortar upwards, and fired. The blue plasma projectile sailed over the battlefield.

Six tracked the projectile and realized its point of impact…

"Jun, move now!" Six's voice boomed over the gunfire.

The tide was too quick, too great.

Jun evaded out of the way… no use. The resulting explosion was only 5 meters away from Jun but it did not matter as the concussive force sent the half ton Spartan sailing through the air.

"Jun? Jun!" beckoned the lone wolf as he blurred towards the downed Spartan. Six approached the sniper and grimaced; Jun's armor was scorched and melted to the point where it was barely recognizable.

"S-Six." managed the sniper in a weak voice.

"Jun, I'll get you out of here." assured Six.

"No, that won't be happening, my vitals are red, I won't make it." Six couldn't believe his ears or eyes.

"Jun! It was my job to protect Noble, my job to ensure you survived." Six's voice tinged with anger. ' _I didn't fail… no I CAN'T FAIL.'_ Six all but screamed mentally.

Jun looked up at the lone wolf. "I know what you are thinking, you didn't fail, y-you can't always control the o-outcome of the mission." managed Jun, his voice getting weaker by the second.

"Jun… Mendez once told me that 'you don't win unless your team does.' I won't leave without you." Six's voice was filled with the sadness only a Spartan would recognize.

Jun took his dog tags out of his pouch and placed it in the lone wolf's hand, who gently held it in his massive hand as if the slightest twitch would shatter it into a million pieces.

Jun chuckled. "That's true but even in death I'll win alongside you, all of Noble Team will win with you, remember that." those words hit Six like a wraith.

"Your are not dying brother, I won't allow it." Six raised his voice.

The tide was almost at their doorstep. The fire never stopped.

Jun coughed, his voice significantly weaker as his visor stared into Mike's. "You may be a S-Spartan… but you are still… h-human, and humans make mistakes." Mike was dumbstruck.

"Jun-" the sniper stopped him with his last parting words before departing into the afterlife. "It has been an h-honour, Mike." The sniper went limp in the arms of the man who swore to shield him from death.

A million thoughts a second pulsed through his head like a plasma projector. Noble Team is gone… the brothers and sisters that gave him not only a deeper purpose to fight; but real emotion, like happiness… they gave him humanity. Six had a family, not of blood, but one of like minded courage and mentality that served and suffered like him to be the sword and shield of humanity.

Now it was all gone…

The only people he ever had a true relationship with are now dead. Slain at the hands of the foe that he swore revenge upon when they slaughtered his real family before his very eyes on the one evening from a life he could hardly remember. They died because of them, they died because HE wasn't good enough.

" _Six.. keep it together, the Covenant is closing in you have to-."_ Sigma's voice, barely audible, was now cut off as the lone wolf's mind whirred, time slowed down as impossible levels of rage pulsed through his body.

 _Mike remembered now. He remembered the training and the suffering they endured. Mike remembered little children either scared out of their minds or radiating with the heat of anger towards the butcherers of their families; the sole reason they volunteered to become Spartans. He remembered their first mission; fall from the sky and be worthy, or succumb to cowardice and be cast aside like a worn out tool. The endless equations, and theories, the countless hours, spent firing thousands of rounds at inanimate objects to perfect supernatural aim. He remembered his fellow brothers and sisters, how he was an outcast among them. The pain, the verbal assaults, the inspiration, the augmentations… his brothers and sisters, no older than twelve, sent to their deaths on a suicide mission while Mike himself was pulled out and saved. He appeared from the shadows, and killed the foes of humanity, leaving their corpses in the light as he vanished in the darkness. Mike remembered a team of Spartans that conquered thousands, men and women that he swore to protect, die one by one… he failed. He was alone again, just like he used to be._

Mike couldn't form a coherent thought, he was so overcome with rage that the thermal energy would rival the nuclear fission of a HAVOK tactical nuclear weapon. His rage consuming him like a fire as he stood unmoving, staring into Jun's corpse. What once made Six even remotely human was gone now, the only thing that could make him shine an emotion is gone. His gauntlets groaned with the incredible pressure as Mike clenched his fists.

He didn't want anything but the enemy to die, and die they would.

* * *

Sigma was panicking; Six was having an episode of rage at the death of Jun. Sigma is aware of the fact that Six was prone to such episodes, but the descriptions he read of it is quite terrifying. These episodes, tend to be caused by the loss of Noble Team members or the witnessing of innocents being slaughtered. Records only state that this has happened 1-3 times… with terrifying results. Apparently, ONI is quite paranoid of the public knowing that some Spartans can automatically turn into psychotic killing machines.

Sigma tried to calm the Spartan. "Six, calm down it's not worth losing your composure, it will get you killed and then what? You'd fail yourself."

No response, the Spartan didn't move a nanometer, it was as if the lone wolf is frozen in time. But Sigma knew the truth; on the inside, his neural network lit up like a supernova, Sigma has never seen his neural network like this before… it scared him.

"Six you have to listen to me please, don't let yourself get consumed like this, you're better than that." pleaded Sigma, but his pleas fell on deaf ears.

Suddenly, the armoured man stood up to face the tide, they numbered in the hundreds, most of them having closed in at a medium range when the Spartan mourned Jun. Six clenched his fists so hard, that Sigma thought MJOLNIR would shatter underneath Mike's might.

The AI closed his eyes, in one way, he felt bad for the Covenant, they were about to witness something none of them would expect. But he was also worried about Six; his emotions turned him into a suicidal warrior.

The lone wolf took a step forward

"Please hurry Lasky." whispered Sigma as Six stared down an entire army… again.

* * *

" _You are but mere flesh and blood, your mechanical composure betrays a feeling of vengeance and hatred towards the enemy of those you protect."_ The Gravemind's voice rumbled inside of the head of the super soldier, now lost in his anger.

It took an unfathomable amount of emotion to get a Spartan to crack. The amount of emotion Six is experiencing is defined as thus; unprecedented, unfathomable, and unimaginable.

Mike lost everything, all of his friends and family were butchered by the Covenant, his childhood replaced by military training, his home planet that he doesn't even know was more than likely glassed. Now… Noble Team was gone, and he couldn't bear the burden of billions back on Reach, he failed.

The Spartan was a fusion reactor of rage as he stood up and looked upon the sea of enemies - no… victims, they would pay dearly for this.

' _You are the sword and shield of humanity, you will bear the burden of billions and withstand the might of millions. You are a Spartan, the best of the best, an unimaginable godlike warrior with a fire in your heart that shines out to all of humanity. The light of the fire is their guidance to you; their shepherd, their protector.'_ The voice of Spartan Kurt did not stop, and with every word did Mike feel guilt and failure, and with every word did he feel anger.

The Master Chief's voice was suddenly heard in Six's head. _'A soldier should not be commended for doing what is expected, but performing their duty and going above and beyond to ensure the completion of the mission.'_

Mike let his head hang and just stared into the ground until a voice called him; an elite, the enemy.

"Demon, you are surrounded and alone, you have committed crimes against the Covenant and hereby must be punished. Surrender and suffer our wrath or we will kill you where you stand you demonic abomination." its voice was filled with hatred, the zealot donned its energy sword and attempted to bore a hole through Mike's visor.

Six growled loud enough for some of the troops to take an unconscious step back.

"Were it so easy." was the only sentence that came out of the Spartan's mouth before he was finally consumed with white hot rage.

" _Six listen to me, you need to retreat, the Infinity will arrive in eight minutes."_ The voice was distant, as if it came from halfway across the world.

Mike crouched and in each hand held a plasma rifle. The Covenant fired, but time came to a sudden crawl.

Spartan time.

His rage and adrenaline fueling his reflexes to an unprecedented level, the bolts of Plasma moving slow enough for the Spartan to count.

He then lunged at the leader who dared accuse him of crime. Six moved so fast in his emotional state, that he was nothing more than a black and gold streak as he zoomed across the one hundred meter distance in the time it would take to blink a few times.

The Spartan collided with the force of a freight train. The shields of the zealot shattered in an instant as armor broke and bones were pulverized, the alien's vital organs all but mush. Needless to say… it wasn't getting back up.

The hyper lethal aimed his plasma rifles in either direction and fired. The storm of plasma cut down his enemies with terrifying ease as his weapons impacted the heads of his enemies, the unshielded ones going down in an instant. Mike was a blur at all times, diving from cover to cover and running past enemies, some of them even being hit with friendly fire in the confusion and fear.

The soldier's body worked in autopilot as he swatted aside grunts, jackals, and even elites with ease; his rage and adrenaline mixed into a terrifying cocktail of death that allowed Six to acquire strength that he has never had before.

The hyper lethal lunged at a pair of hunters, jumping over one of the twelve foot tall behemoths and punched a plasma grenade into the walking colony… the little pieces of lekgolo was a nice addition to the death on the battlefield.

The second hunter swiped with its shield and the Spartan rolled. The walking tank brought the 2 ton shield down onto the Spartan, hoping to flatten the demon… only to realize its arm has stopped halfway to its target.

Mike was using his new strength to resist the unbelievable strength of the hunter. Normally, the Spartan couldn't hope to accomplish such a feat, but any limits were thrown out the airlock as the anger burned his insides like plasma would to metal.

The pressure increased on Six and a lot of his muscles were torn under the strain… but the Spartan didn't feel it.

" _Victory is the key to redemption, you are nothing more than a freak experiment, a failure. You are weak, letting us die on Reach and getting me killed finally."_ Jun's angry voice echoed in the hyper lethal's head. Six roared with such force that it echoed across the entire battlefield, the Covenant having stopped firing on the demon as they watched in awe their destroyer match the strength of their heaviest class of shock troops.

His victims took a step or two backwards in fear. The broken Spartan rolled to the left as the shield impacted his last spot. Mike blurred and rammed into the hunter with the force of a MAC gun. He felt the wind being knocked out of him as the six ton hunter staggered back. Before it regained its footing, Six blurred again and appeared behind the hunter.

The lone wolf latched onto its back and used his supernatural strength to tear out handfuls of lekgolo worms, each strike weakening the massive opponent. The hunter struggled and struggled to no avail until it slumped to the ground from its wounds.

Like the grim reaper himself, Six's blood lust didn't falter. Before the Covenant could even register what happened, a pair of grenades soared through the air followed by a storm of plasma fire. The horrifyingly accurate barrage claimed the lives of at least a dozen grunts and jackals while the two grenades killed a dozen more.

The tide of Covenant were tightly packed which made it easier for the Spartan to inflict casualties upon them.

" _Six, ETA on backup is 6 minutes."_ came a voice which the Spartan did not hear.

The voices the super soldier heard only existed in his head which drove his body to commit murder on a scale that the Covenant could not comprehend from a single being as he continued to cut down the enemy in the dozens.

" _You are made to serve humanity, to win, and you only win when your team does."_

That same quote repeated itself in the Spartan's head as he pushed himself harder to win.

A pair of sword wielding ultras rushed the Spartan with inhuman speed slowed down to a jog with his heightened reflexes. Six blurred again and at the last second spun around until his back faced the ultras. The Spartan jumped and performed a backflip over his opponents. Said opponents watched in awe as the Spartan locked on to them and in mid flip unloaded both plasma rifles into one of the ultras, it collapsed without a sound.

The last warrior roared in anger and charged at the demon… he didn't get far.

Mike rolled out of the way of more plasma fire but failed; at this range the sheer amount of guns pointing his way ensured many hits. His shields went down and his armor became deformed from the plasma, the immense heat the Spartan felt was merely ignored. In fact it pushed the Spartan to fight harder, pain is like inspiration to a Spartan. Six acquired and activated the two energy swords from his most recent victims. Most of the warriors stepped back as Mike brandished the two terrifying weapons.

Six crouched down slightly then vanished… his active camo ensuring that no one would see the incoming death that was calling for their blood. Six now rushed forward and began cutting down the enemy two at a time. An elite having estimated his position had turned around to open fire only to realize it was missing its arm that held the weapon, there was a bright flash of white and he knew no more.

Mike's active camo wore off and he was instantly struck by more plasma fire. Ignoring the blaring warnings from his armour, the Spartan rushed from cover to cover and began downing more enemies. A pair of elites moved in to the left of the Spartan in order to flank the demon. Six anticipated this and ducked low as one of them swung its weapon at the man. Six blurred and his fist connected with the rib cage of the opponent, followed by six more strikes in the span of a few milliseconds, needless to say, the unfortunate elite, was sent off to its great journey fairly early.

He moved to engage the second elite but was struck from behind by another minor. Several of these aliens wanted to get up close and personal with Mike. The Spartan would easily oblige; the mission mattered, nothing more, and he already failed his mission of ensuring Noble Team survive.

He would not fail again, Six had to correct that.

The Spartan ignored the plasma fire and warning alarms from his armor and became a streak of gold and black. From the eyes of a spectator, they'd see elites of different rank being ripped apart and pulverized by a blur that resonated in the middle of the now dead warriors.

The Covenant met this terror with an insurmountable storm of plasma Six staggered back and without his shields finally fell to the ground, his weakened state preventing him from really being able to fight.

" _You failed, and like the failure you are, you will die a coward's death."_ Six's anger attempted to rouse his injured body, but even that didn't work. The Spartan's injuries were too great, even greater than on Reach.

A zealot dragged its energy sword along the ground, its heat melting the rock to lava. It stopped just 4 feet from the Spartan

"You have fought well demon, but for your crimes, you will be executed, you demonic spawn." Spoke the warrior in a deep voice that all but quivered in rage.

Before the zealot could even raise its energy sword however, dozens of drop pods struck to ground, followed by dozens of pelicans. The drop pods popped open and out emerged dozens of Spartan IVs. The lesser super soldiers automatically opened fire on the Covenant, their large numbers ensuring that the Covenant were cut down with ease

The pelicans circled about the battlefield and unleashed hell with their 30 mm twin miniguns. One of the transports landed right next to the wounded lone wolf, the door to the troop bay opened and revealed Spartan IVs and a team of medics.

"Hurry, get him on board." shouted a male medic amidst the sounds of war. The Spartans effortlessly loaded the Six onto the pelican. The doors closed and the dropship ascended.

Noble Six tried to stay awake, but passed out from his injuries and blood loss.

" _You are a failure."_ was the last thing the hyper lethal heard before passing out.

 **Line Here**

 **Hey guys, this was the first chapter of my very first story EVER so please be nice. I would appreciate any and all constructive criticism. Big shoutout to Gatekeeper333, I'd like to thank him for inspiring me to embark on this journey of making my story a reality. Please read his story "The Spartan Effect", it is leagues ahead of what I have. Anyways, this chapter was much, much longer than I anticipated (though from my experience, I've learned that more is better). I hope to get the next chapter out soon but I have to do research on the Mass Effect universe first, since it is not as refined as my knowledge of Halo. Plus school is a pain as well, not to mention the future job that I hope to have. I will try to keep all of my chapters at a minimum of 10,000 words if you guys were wondering about that. Thank you for your time and I hope you enjoyed!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's note: I apologize for the amount of time it took me to release this chapter, school has been giving me the middle finger these past couple of months. Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer:** Any and all characters are not my own, and neither is the Mass Effect and Halo franchise.

 **Rated M**

 **Chapter 2 - You Only Live Twice**

* * *

To say that Commander Shepard was flabbergasted would be an understatement, the less than eminent destruction of the Normandy should have brought about his permanent removal from the domain of the living when the enigma that was the supposed 'Geth cruiser' cut it to pieces and he got spaced. But no, two years later, he awakens in an almost forsaken laboratory in the middle of nowhere with an army of mechs hell bent on reacquainting him with death a second time. The now alive commander blasted his way through the opposition and came across Jacob and Miranda, the latter of the two killing the man who assisted in bringing Shepherd back to life for some unknown, probably insane reason. Shepard was in the end glad to get away from that station, but his happiness was flattened like a pancake when Jacob informed him that Cerberus, the unethical human terrorist group, brought him back to life on behalf of The Illusive Man. The commander was righteously pissed at that revelation but equally shocked when he learned that Cerberus dumped four billion credits into the Lazarus Project; the project meant to revive Shepard.

Now The Illusive Man has requested Miranda to deliver Shepard to yet another Cerberus station where The Illusive Man will be waiting for him. Truth be told, Shepard doesn't want anything to do with the terrorist organization. If every single unethical action that they committed represented one kill for The Illusive Man, then Shepard's kills in his career would make the commander appear to be nothing more than a recruit fresh out of boot camp. That along with a galaxy's worth of bad reputation made Cerberus stick out like a sirloin steak to a pack of wolves. Now Shepard was onboard a Cerberus shuttle with Miranda and Jacob with only a few minutes left before they arrive at their destination.

Shepard looked down at the floor, rubbed his temples, and looked back up at the other two occupants. Jacob was simply staring at the floor, apparently deep in thought while Miranda was watching Shepard like a hawk, analyzing every piece of him and trying to peel back his mental barriers in order to learn what lies beneath the mask of the hero of the Citadel. _"The hell's her problem?"_ Wondered Shepard as he stared back at the operative. She acted just like any spook would, and if there's one thing anyone should know about Shepard, it's that he hates spooks.

"Is there a reason why you are trying to peel open my soul Miranda?" asked Shepard with a withering glare that simply stated _'I am not impressed'_.

"Just checking on your physical state Shepard, there's no need to be hostile." replied the ice queen with that ever impassive facial expression.

Shepard rolled his eyes. "Really, how would you rate my physical state then doctor?" retorted Shepard in an attempt to annoy Miranda.

Shepard got the desired result as the Cerberus operative glared at him for a second before returning to her impassiveness. "Your physical state appears to be quite normal, unless of course you are a very skilled actor." Miranda then looked down at a datapad before continuing. "It'd be best to check your mental state however just to make sure."

Shepard glared at the Cerberus woman. "Miranda, I can assure you that I am okay and in no need of answering any questions regarding my mental state or memories."

Miranda smirked a bit, barely noticeable to even the trained eye of Shepard, but he saw it. "It's just protocol Shepard, I'm sure after facing down Saren and the geth a few simple questions won't scare you."

Shepard was tempted to shoot her but refrained from doing so. Jacob looked at Shepard and wore an expression of understanding that seemed to calm the ex-spectre down a bit. _"At Least someone here is willing to understand this nonsense."_ Thought Shepard as Jacob turned to speak to Miranda.

Jacob looked at Miranda and narrowed his eyes before asking "Come on Miranda, more tests? Shepard easily wiped out those mechs, that should be good enough." Jacob appeared to be annoyed at the fact that Shepard woke up from a two year rest only to have to fight through the station's mech defenses in order to survive, and now Miranda wants to question Shepard's mental health.

Miranda looked at the soldier, expression not changing in the slightest, before responding. " It's been two years since the attack, The Illusive Man needs to know that Shepard's personality and memories are intact so ask the questions."

Jacob sighed before looking at his omnitool."I'm telling you Miranda, this isn't necessary in the slightest." Said Jacob with a tinge of irritation, but Miranda wasn't having none of it.

"The sooner we start, the sooner we can be done. Start with personal history." retorted Miranda, completely ignoring anything that Jacob said in the past fifteen seconds.

The soldier groaned before looking back down at his omnitool and analyzed the data before beginning. "Records show you grew up on Earth. Tough environment, no parents. You enlisted and survived a thresher maw attack that wiped out your team, you were the only survivor, do you remember that?"

Shepard narrowed his eyes, Cerberus knew pretty much everything about him, it wasn't a comforting thought, but he'd go with it… for now.

"I remember, back on Akuze, fifty KIA, I was all that was left." Shepard took a moment to look down at the floor and take a deep breath before continuing. "I lost a lot of good friends back there, encounters like that change people." Shepard looked at Jacob and saw pity and understanding directed his way, the commander looked at Miranda and saw… nothing. It was as if none of that mattered, as if the suffering a soldier bears means nothing to a woman that claims to work for an organization that exists only to look after and care for humanity. One part of Shepard was disgusted with that lack of respect, but the other part of him didn't care. The reason being is that Shepard enlisted for the benefit of humanity, to fight, suffer, and bleed so that others could live a free and peaceful life in harmony with their loved ones. He didn't do it for glory, recognition, or to receive pity from others, Shepard knew what he signed up for, and was willing to lay down his life for humanity.

"Satisfied Miranda?" asked Jacob this time with a little bit of anger in his voice as he crossed his arms and simply glared at Miranda, as if he was trying to pick her head off like a sniper would.

Miranda however remained unfazed by the less than friendly action as she replied. "Almost, let's try something more recent."

Shepard mentally sighed and looked at the window before Miranda asked the next question. "Virmire where you had to destroy Saren's cloning facility. You had to leave one of your squad behind to die in the blast."

Jacob added on to the question. "Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko was killed in action, it was your call. Why did you leave him behind?"

Shepard remembered Alenko, he was there from the beginning in his struggle against Saren. The lieutenant was brave and honorable, an exemplary soldier. It truly was a shame that he was gone, but Shepard understood the sacrifice.

"I left a friend to die that day and I didn't do it casually. But I had to save as many people as I could. His sacrifice ensured that we could defeat Saren, Alenko died a hero that day." Shepard replied before looking back at the floor and silently mourned his dead comrade.

Jacob nodded in understanding and replied. "I understand commander, I'm not judging your decision, Cerberus knew that cloning facility had to be destroyed."

Shepard almost cringed when Miranda asked him another question. "Shepard think back to the Citadel, after the Alliance saved the Destiny Ascension and you killed Saren, what happened next?"

" _Huh, that question isn't so bad."_ thought Shepard as he dug deep into the hippocampus portion of his brain in search of the memories associated with the question.

It didn't take long before Shepard revealed his answer. "Humanity was offered a spot on the council, I recommended Captain Anderson for the position." Shepard inwardly smiled at the thought of the captain he long considered to be like a father figure to him. The commander imagined that being a member of the council was no pushover occupation and that Anderson was probably neck deep in paperwork and bullshit politics.

The commander's thoughts were cut short as Miranda replied. "Yes, Captain Anderson is now Councillor Anderson. Though from what I hear, he preferred life in the military."

"Anderson was a much better choice than that pencil pusher Udina." stated Shepard, as if every organic and synthetic entity in existence would have had the same answer.

Jacob smiled before stating his opinion. "I agree, at least Anderson is willing to put the defense of humanity ahead of politics." Shepard agreed.

To Shepard, it seemed that although Jacob is a member of Cerberus, he was just a soldier doing his job, Jacob seemed to dislike some of the unethical methods of Cerberus and the commander could respect his morals.

" _I'm glad that Cerberus isn't just a horrific freak show filled with greedy, self driven idealists and gung-ho mercs that get turned on from sadism."_ though Shepard as he inwardly smiled at the man sitting in front of him.

Shepard was startled from his thoughts as Miranda spoke once more. "Your memory seems solid. There are other tests we really should run-" Miranda was cut off by the only Cerberus member that Shepard respects.

"Come on Miranda, enough with the quizzes. The memories are there and I can vouch for Shepard's combat personally."

Miranda's expression hardened for a second before returning to impassiveness almost instantly. "If you say so, I suppose The Illusive Man will just have to accept this as legitimate evidence." deadpanned the Cerberus Princess before the shuttle simply went silent.

Shepard's tactical mind suddenly kicked in; he needed to know his situation and what to expect from Cerberus. There is without a shadow of doubt a very good reason that The Illusive Man dumped this many resources into bringing Shepard back.

"Miranda, what exactly does The Illusive Man want from me?" asked the commander, hoping that the ice queen will be useful in providing information.

The Cerberus operative simply glanced his way before replying. "The Illusive Man made it abundantly clear that we are not to inform you about any of the specifics of his need to revive you are your task, you are meeting him because he wants to have the honour of doing it personally."

Shepard gave Miranda a death glare that could pierce the armor of a mako if that was possible. Knowledge is power and Shepard knew that having more of it is crucial.

Shepard decided to go for the more direct and aggressive approach of simply pissing off Miranda until he got what he wanted.

"I'm sorry miss ice queen but I thought that you'd be more lenient when it came to keeping me informed, I thought that you as a Cerberus operative could at least spare a few tidbits about what the hell I'm getting into. I wasn't resurrected just so The Illusive Man could have a new footstool, I was brought back into this galaxy for a reason that I expect to have at least the slightest bit of info regarding it." Stated Shepard with a noticeable amount of anger.

Miranda's face wrinkled in exasperation as the Cerberus operative's attention snapped onto the commander in a manner commonly associated with the death of the perpetrator. Much to the commander's surprise, the ice queen managed to keep her composure and returned to her impassiveness.

" _They must have trained her well."_ Thought the commander as the operative opened her mouth to speak.

"I can't say much but I will say that your meeting with The Illusive Man will concern the safety of humanity and possibly the galaxy. You must also know that you will be working with Jacob and myself."

Shepard's eyes widened slightly and he asked the question that was currently on his mind threatening to overload the limbic system of his brain. "Are the Reapers involved with this?"

"I am not allowed to say, The Illusive Man will fill you in shortly." replied Miranda, ignoring the scowl that Shepard fired off in her general direction.

Shepard filed that small amount of information in his memory, however insignificant it was, at least it was something. The natural born leader that was Shepard moved onto more pressing matters; his new team. To be effective, a leader had to know the ins and outs of those that he will lead into battle, that meant knowing Jacob and Miranda.

Shepard looked at the other two denizens within the shuttle and broke the ever growing awkward silence. "Look Miranda, you may not be willing to share much information with me but I'd appreciate if you were willing to tell me a little about your skills in combat so I know who's watching my back."

Miranda stared at Shepard for a full five seconds with a questioning gaze before her expression softened and she reciprocated. "Fair enough I suppose, I have some of the best training and education money can buy, N7 quality if you must know. I am most proficient with biotics but am not afraid to utilize a weapon. If that's not enough, well I am also genetically modified to be more superior than a normal human in almost every way." Miranda finished with a hint of smugness.

Shepard raised an eyebrow at the last part. _"Genetic modification? That's pretty rare, she must be an important individual to Cerberus then since she has them, or maybe she was part of something else entirely before Cerberus recruited her."_ theorized Shepard mentally before deciding not to press any further, that's not important at the moment.

Shepard instead merely nodded at the pale operative in satisfaction at her above average combat qualification before turning his attention to Jacob.

"Jacob, I've already seen you in action against those mechs back at the Lazarus station, and I must say that I am thoroughly impressed. However I'd like to know a little bit more about you in terms of battlefield capability." stated Shepard in a calm collected tone that effectively ignore the suspicious stare magnetically attracted to his eyes from the only female occupant of the troop bay.

Jacob smiled benevolently at the compliment before his face immediately returned to impassiveness followed by his reply. "I have plenty of combat experience if that's what you are worried about, although I may not be as good a biotic as Miranda, I can operate any weapon you'd need me to. I was an Alliance marine for a total of five years, and spent several more as a Corsair."

Shepard's eyebrows were raised slightly at this revelation; Corsairs are a secret group of independent marines granted considerable liberty to perform clandestine operations that fell outside of Alliance jurisdiction. This meant they don't officially exist and the Alliance could disavow them if they ever got caught, to Shepard, that is one of the most risky and terrifying occupations. Being caught and imprisoned with no one there for you was quite unnerving to the commander.

Regardless, if what Jacob says is true, then he is an elite soldier, special forces level in fact. Corsairs were trained to be elite spec ops and although they aren't quite as elite as an N7 operative, they were still a force to be reckoned with.

" _It's good that my pal Illusive Man was nice enough to hook me up with some competent operatives."_ mused Shepard.

"Thank you, both of you for elaborating on your skills, I'm sure that with this knowledge we can work effectively as a team." assured Shepard with a smile that was all too happy to agree with his heartwarming assurance.

Jacob smiled back and replied. "I'm glad to be working with someone of your caliber Shepard, if even half of what I heard about you was true, then whatever assignments we have to complete will be a walk in the park for us."

Miranda simply gave Shepard a crisp nod before going back to fiddling with her datapad.

Miranda's lack of interest in any form of conversation with the other two occupants of the room was starting to annoy the formerly dead commander. It wasn't that she was antisocial, no, she simply had this aura of arrogance and perfectionism that seemed hell bent on ensuring her ego and pride stood taller than the combined might of the galaxy.

A male voice suddenly spoke over the comms. "Operator Lawson, we have reached our destination."

"Good, let's go, The Illusive Man doesn't like to be kept waiting for long." said Miranda as if The Illusive Man's patience for important events was obvious to the common citizen.

Shepard decided to push aside any lingering thoughts and save them for later as he gracefully made his way out from the shuttle behind Miranda with Jacob in tow. The three combatants moved through a small hallway towards what appeared to be a checkpoint with a pair of guards and scanning equipment.

Shepard noticed that the pair of guards gave him some questioning glances as they positioned themselves to greet the newcomers.

" _I guess my face is still well known throughout the galaxy."_ theorized Shepard as he remembered his actions in saving the Citadel from Sovereign.

Both guards were wearing standard light armor along with assault rifles; standard security sure, but Shepard would have expected more considering he was supposed to meet The Illusive Man on this very station.

" _Unless I won't be meeting him face to face."_ thought Shepard. He immediately decided that his assumption was valid unless proven otherwise and proceeded along with his Cerberus 'friends'.

One of the guards casually stepped in front of the trio with his rifle aimed benevolently at the ground. "Halt, please identify yourselves, state your departure point and intentions." state the guard somewhat nervously at the presence of the cold blooded Miranda and the legendary commander John Shepard along with a very threatening looking soldier.

Miranda stepped in front of the group before activating her omnitool, cycling through several functions, before typing in several commands and sending the necessary data to the guard.

"There." she replied. "That should inform you on a need to know basis about our intentions." she finished with a voice that would have said 'no' to even the most valid of counter arguments.

The man looked at his fellow guardsman who shrugged in response, the former opened his omnitool and gave the information a good read. The man's eyebrows raised slightly before regaining his composure.

"Thank you Operator Lawson, The Illusive Man sends his regards and will be expecting commander Shepard shortly." said the soldier in a monotone voice and stone expression.

Shepard raised an eyebrow at the man's sudden composure. _"It's as if everyone in Cerberus is expecting me, Miranda must be extremely important to Cerberus if he was willing to let us through without hesitation after simply reading through forgeable data."_ thought Shepard rather grimly.

It was true, information, just like video recordings, could easily be forged or even created from scratch. Physical evidence is what counts in the modern world since technology is advanced enough to allow even the novice computer geek to forge information and video evidence. It was because of this common knowledge that the guard's hesitation in accepting Miranda's omnitool information was suspicious to Shepard. That, however, was for another time.

Shepard and Jacob followed the Cerberus operative through a series of hallways, the three of them maintaining silence for the entire trip as they occasionally passed a Cerberus patrol or other employees of the station. They eventually came across what appeared to be a fairly large waiting area with rows of empty seats as well as a large observation window to the left that allowed the casual observer to get a good glimpse of the inky black void of the Milky Way galaxy. Across the room was another door, presumably leading to The Illusive Man.

Shepard looked around the room instinctively, not quite comfortable walking into a room on a Cerberus space station, and saw that the three of them were alone, to his relief.

"The Illusive Man is waiting for you just through that door, I wouldn't keep him waiting if I were you." said Miranda in a tone that Shepard would normally receive from a commanding officer. The Cerberus princess walked over to a terminal close to the observation window and began to look over what Shepard could only assume was some classified data while ignoring Shepard and Jacob as if they didn't even exist.

Said former Corsair snapped Shepard out of his thought. "I agree, The Illusive Man would probably want to talk with you after waiting to do so for a little over two years. I'll be in this room with Miranda waiting for you."

The soldier finished off with a professional salute forged from years of military experience before walking over to the observation window and simply gazed out at the inky blackness of the galactic void that enveloped all of existence.

Shepard smiled once the only other sentient beings in this room were fully occupied. _'I somewhat miss working with soldiers.'_ Shepard reflected his memories of his Alliance career. All of his friends in his platoon… gone during that thresher maw attack. He remember all of their names.

" _Martin, Ramirez, Joseph, Alice…"_ Shepard could go on for eons about his teammates, their names, ranks, and personal information, but it just wasn't worth dwelling on the past.

" _Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift, that's why we call it the present."_ thought Shepard as he pulled himself out of his thoughts. Shepard's gift was the gift of life, the gift of a second chance. With that gift, he will restore upon humanity its pride and safety, for nothing shall bring about the destruction of humanity, or any race for that matter, as long as Shepard draws breath. It is his duty after all, to convey upon the galaxy consolation from that which may lurk within the empty void of the universe.

" _Well, let's get this over with."_

The commander continued towards the metal door, which opened automatically upon his approach he continued down a flight of stairs and found himself in a large cylindrical room that was slightly darker than usual. Shepard already knew what this was, so he simply stood at the center of the room and waited… without warning, the room's built in holoview enveloped him and an instant later, he found himself staring at The Illusive Man.

Shepard raised an eyebrow regarding what he was looking at. All around him he could see the void of space filled with billions of stars. He turned to face his twelve O'clock and found an older looking man sitting on a chair smoking a cigar. He had an expensive looking suit and blue glowing eyes that were rather suspicious to Shepard, but he decided not to question that right now. The dying star behind The Illusive Man was unmistakably beautiful with its glowing colors.

The Illusive Man took a sip of some alcoholic beverage before speaking. "Commander Shepard." acknowledged The Illusive Man as he set the glass of drink down on the arm of his chair.

"Illusive Man, I thought we'd be meeting face-to-face." exasperated Shepard at the Cerberus Leader's security paranoia that seemed rivaled only by the omnipotence of the divine.

Either The Illusive Man didn't notice Shepard's obvious exasperation or he didn't care, he continued without missing a beat. "A necessary precaution, not unusual for people that know what you and I know." Shepard raised an eyebrow at this and decided to ask what The Illusive Man is playing at.

"And what exactly do we both know? You might be the reason that I am alive but don't think that I will lack reluctance in trusting the leader of a splinter organization labelled one too many times as a terrorist organization." replied Shepard rather sternly, crossing his arms and staring right into the eyes of The Illusive Man in a challenging manner.

The Cerberus Leader, however, did not seem fazed by the aforementioned death glare, nor did Shepard's bluntness seem to visibly affect him in any way.

"For one, Cerberus is not a terrorist organization, we are simply doing what we can to advance and protect humanity, nothing more nothing less. Our methods may seem harsh to others but it is necessary."

The Illusive Man took another sip of alcohol before continuing.

"You and I both know that humanity is in danger, your encounter with Sovereign back at the Citadel two years ago is proof of that. The Reapers will return and we must be ready to fight back against them if we want any hope of survival." clarified The Illusive Man in a monotone voice that acted as if it was stating the obvious.

"Yes, I am fully aware of the Reapers and the threat they pose." retorted Shepard.

The Cerberus Leader didn't seem to care about Shepard's aggressiveness and pressed on. "I'm glad that your memories are intact, Miranda's tests helped me confirm that. How do you feel?"

"You need to earn the right to ask those questions." replied Shepard in a voice of authority. But once again The Illusive Man simply stared back at Shepard. He almost looked…. curious?

"I do not know why you dislike me, but you should know that Cerberus isn't as evil as you think, we are on the same side despite our methods after all." Shepard fought the urge to roll his eyes and luckily succeeded.

Shepard decided to move the conversation along in order to get to the more important parts of said conversation. "Cut to the chase, what are the Reapers doing that made you decide to bring me back?"

At this question, the Cerberus leader actually stood up before replying, "We're at war, no one wants to admit it, but humanity is under attack." The Illusive Man let his words sink in before continuing. "While you've been sleeping, entire colonies have been disappearing. Human colonies."

Shepard raised his eyebrows, signifying his surprise and shock at this revelation.

" _What the hell, why would the Reapers only target human colonies? Covertly as well, as if they don't want the rest of the galaxy to know."_ thought Shepard as he was still trying to process the situation.

Shepard was again surprised as The Illusive Man continued. "We believe it's someone working for the Reapers, just as Saren and the Geth aided Sovereign."

" _Who could be working for the Reaper's, I don't think even the Geth could have the capability to make entire colonies disappear without warning or even a trace for that matter."_

The Illusive Man continued once again. "You've seen it yourself, you bested all of them. That's just one reason we chose you." Shepard once again forced himself not to roll his eyes.

" _We barely survived, and that was just one Reaper… what kind of damage could ten, thousands, or even millions do?"_ thought Shepard grimly at their predicament.

An idea formulated in Shepard's head: if human colonies were disappearing, then the Alliance needed to be prepared, it's going to take a lot more than just one man to stop the Reapers after all.

Shepard decided to civilly communicate said idea with the Cerberus leader. "If this is a threat against humanity, then you need to mobilize the alliance."

The Illusive Man answered rather expeditiously. "The Alliance suffered substantial losses fighting Sovereign. They are still rebuilding and stretched far too thin to commit resources to verifying the Reaper threat."

Shepard's eyes widened slightly at this. _'They are still rebuilding?'_ thought Shepard in a state of dismay. It has been a little over two years since the battle with Sovereign and the Alliance is still recovering from its engagement with just one Reaper. Again, how much damage could ten Reapers cause? What about hundreds, thousands, or even millions?

Shepard felt his blood run cold and his heart turn to lead. The thought of such a threat looming over the edge of the galaxy ready to extinguish space faring life whilst commanding near omnipotent power sent electric chills down the spine of the ex Spectre.

The Illusive Man continued, not caring in the slightest how this information is affecting the commander. "Blaming the abductions on mercs and pirates is easier and more convenient."

Shepard looked at the ground and sighed; he hated having to admit it, but The Illusive Man was right. The galaxy is completely oblivious to the ominous galactic ending threat of the Reapers. The evidence of the aforementioned threat being obvious enough to end a few hundred criminal cases before they even began.

" _How can the council be so half-witted?"_ wondered the commander as he felt his body expel many of his brain cells simply thinking about those oafs that are so arrogant and useless that they couldn't see the obvious threat even if it stuck its finger up their asses.

The Alliance might not be fully capable of revealing the Reaper threat, but the council sure as hell is, yet they had the audacity to brush aside the attack as Geth even though the evidence of the contrary landed literally on the Citadel in the form of the Reaper's technology. It baffles Shepard as to how the galaxy is even remotely unified and not in total chaos.

The Illusive Man seemed to have a valid reason to bring back Shepard, and the commander was happy to be given a second chance to put an end to the Reapers. Still, he did not trust Cerberus, the shadowy organization is completely unpredictable and the thought of The Illusive Man trying to reverse engineer Reaper tech would definitely, without a shadow of doubt, be keeping Shepard up at night for days to come.

Whoever was assisting the Reapers in abducting human colonies were very well organized, their professionalism backed by their technology; no colonies were able to send out distress signals before appearing forsaken in the eyes of those that arrive after the abductions. Shepard did not like the Reapers targeting one species; the Reapers purged all space faring species in the galaxy, not just one. There had to be an ulterior motive for their actions.

Shepard speculated that it could be because humanity was the main reason for the loss of Sovereign, the Reapers saw humanity as a priority one threat and, like common sense would have dictated, would've eliminated that threat first. That, plus the Alliance was weakened after that engagement which made them even more vulnerable to attack, it's always easier to finish off weaker prey so it doesn't come to bite one in the ass when they go for the big game. It also didn't help that the pathetic excuse of a galactic leadership that was the council would not care in the slightest for the disappearance of human colonies.

Shepard decided to continue the conversation with a question. Said question went as thus: "Why do you think the Reapers are targeting humanity? It's not like them to operate like that." Shepard kept his countenance placid as his stern voice echoed within the small room.

The Illusive Man was quick to respond, his glowing synthetic-like eyes locked onto to Shepard's like a sniper lining up a shot on a high value target. "Hundreds of thousands of colonists have disappeared, you might disagree, but I think that fits the definition of 'harvesting'. I'd say that the Reapers fear humanity after the death of Sovereign, or at the very least, are weary of us. You did kill it after all." Shepard merely nodded, accepting the answer for what it was. The Reapers are smart, no doubt about that. They are capable of easily adapting to new, unexpected situations.

A myriad of thoughts raced through the one hundred billion brain cells of commander Shepard's brain, all trying to comprehend the information and create a response from it. Most of his thoughts simply told him to tell the Cerberus leader to piss off and that he is lying, trying to convince Shepard to help Cerberus rise to power without even knowing. But he knew better, the evidence was in front of his very eyes; the colonies, the perpetrator's possible connection to the Reapers, and even just the sheer efficiency of the abduction of the human populations; it just required technology that was out of reach of even the Geth.

But there was one last thing that sealed the deal; the Lazarus Project. The Illusive Man devoted over four billion credits to reviving Shepard, he could have easily trained an elite army with the wealth that he spent on the commander. That money could have been used to benefit Cerberus but instead, it was used to bring back Shepard so that he could fight the Reapers.

John Shepard approved of this; someone needs to face the Reapers head on, and if the council won't do it, he will.

"I probably would've regretted this in my past life, but if everything that I've heard from you is true, then I'd consider helping you." said Shepard candidly, waiting for The Illusive Man's instructions on his course of action.

"I'd be disappointed if you accepted any of this without seeing for yourself." Shepard could have sworn that The Illusive Man was smiling slightly.

The Cerberus leader turned around and began to walk to his chair as he continued. "I have a shuttle ready to take you to Freedom's Progress, the latest colony to be abducted. Miranda and Jacob will brief you." that did not sit well with the commander.

"Do you seriously expect me to trust Miranda after she shot Wilson in cold blood?" inquired Shepard, crossing his arms as he spoke, remembering how the Cerberus princess executed the man who helped revive Shepard without hesitation.

"I understand why you trust Jacob a bit more, he is a soldier through and through just like you. But you definitely shouldn't neglect Miranda, she is one of if not my best agent. Wilson was exceptional too, but he ended up being a traitor and Miranda did exactly what I expected from her. She saved your life in more ways than one," the Cerberus leader stated matter of factly as he took another sip of brandy.

Shepard inwardly sighed, he was right in a way, Miranda did save his ass on the station, but still, he can't trust a top Cerberus agent, especially one that has a particular set of skills akin to that of a spook.

"Jacob's a soldier, one of the best, he may not trust me but he's always been honest about it." the seated man took a long drag from his cigarette. "You'll be fine with them… for now."

"Is there anything else I should know?" questioned Shepard, fixing The Illusive Man with his be 'educate me' stare.

"No, I believe we've gone over everything. Once you get to Freedom's Progress, look for any and all clues pertaining to the whereabouts and identities of the abductees and if they have any connection to the Reapers. I brought you back, it's up to you to do the rest." and with that, The Illusive Man hit a holographic button next to his chair and the holoview around Shepard faded, leaving him in the darkened room he was in prior to the conversation.

Shepard sighed. _"Well, let's get on with it."_ the commander gracefully made his way up the stairs and found himself in the large waiting room with its two inhabitants that will become his companions in his endeavor to uncover the identities of the ones that dare threaten humanity.

Shepard coughed to get their attention, to which Miranda and Jacob both acknowledged with a questioning gaze.

"The Illusive Man filled me in on the details, I'd like us to get to the shuttle right now for briefing and prep." stated the ex spectre in a practiced authoritative voice developed from years of serving as a commanding officer of the Alliance.

Miranda simply nodded without any further acknowledgement and Jacob snapped a salute before the two of them made their way out of the waiting room with Shepard in tow.

"The Illusive Man is very impressed with you Shepard, I just hope you can live up to his expectations on this mission." Miranda spoke in a voice devoid of emotion, but Shepard had a suspicious feeling that it is currently hurting the Cerberus princess's pride to acknowledge the fact that The Illusive Man is impressed with anyone but herself.

"Now's not the time for compliments Miranda, I'm here because I have a job to do, not to impress some two-bit terrorist ringleader." sternly retorted Shepard in a tone that brooked argument.

He could almost feel the heat radiating off of Miranda at that retort.

"Cerberus is not as evil as most people think-"

"Tell that to the victims of kidnaping, torture, experimentation, and xenophobia, I'm not stupid." interrupted the commander, now displaying his own anger at this woman's ignorance.

There was a moment of silence as Shepard took a deep breath to calm down; they had a mission to do, and it wasn't worth getting distracted over something that doesn't concern him at this moment.

Miranda ,on the other hand, wasn't finished. "You know, if I led the Lazarus Project I would have done a few things differently."

Shepard decided to take the bait. "What would that be?"

There was a pause. "I would have implanted a control chip in your head so you wouldn't be a risk to Cerberus."

The magnitude of what Miranda said was incomprehensible as everything went quiet. Not just their voices, but the ship, the muffled sound of machinery, and even their footsteps went deadly silent as they passed through the seemingly forsaken station.

The air grew colder as Shepard narrowed his eyes at what Miranda just said. The commander cringed and Jacob wrinkled his face in disgust.

" _The nerve on this woman."_

"You know…" began Shepard as he was trying to digest what Miranda just said. "I'm actually glad that The Illusive Man was in charge of bringing me back."

"Yes well he wouldn't allow us to do anything that he thought would change your personality and alter your potential in anyway. Personally, I think he is taking a huge risk with you, I just hope it pays off." admitted the Cerberus operative as they finally reached the shuttle.

Jacob elected to end his little vow of silence and finally throw his words out into this verbal battle. "Look, now is not the time to bicker over what happened in the past, we have a mission to do, we can talk about this later." reasoned the soldier in a soft voice as the three combatants took their seats in the shuttle's troop bay.

"Alright, let's go over the plan." said Shepard, getting a nod out of the other two combatants of the vessel, one of them with a bit more hesitance however.

The shuttle ascended up an out of the hanger before entering FTL.

* * *

Inside the ghostly white craft resided nothing but silence as the three inhabitants took part in various tasks of preparation for the possibility of a firefight.

 _Not that we will find anything to shoot at._ Thought Jacob with frustration both at the idea of their endeavor being in vain and missing out on some much needed quality time with the M-8 Avenger assault rifle he is currently inspecting. Every one of them had the same Avenger and Carnifex combination, and, with the three of them being biotics, they would be able to annihilate all but the most numerous and determined enemies.

The soldier looked up from his rifle to see Shepard in deep contemplation, probably about the mission at hand. If even half of what Jacob heard about the commander was true, then Shepard truly is a deadly force on the battlefield, he could probably take on a platoon of alliance marines, or thirty to forty men, if he so desired.

Miranda was once again consulting a data pad, her stoic expression giving nothing away as she closed herself off to the rest of the team… that last conversation didn't go so well.

For them to work effectively, they need to trust each other, and Miranda sure as hell isn't helping. Lack of trust could jeopardize the mission and probably get someone killed, a wolf is nothing without his pack, and Jacob's years of combat experience would agree wholeheartedly with that statement.

Miranda is an effective and efficient operative, Jacob has seen that first hand. But even he had to admit that Miranda's methods are a little extreme. Cerberus might be willing to protect humanity but Jacob disagrees with some of their more 'interesting' methods and operations. Being a seasoned, higher ranking operative allowed him to be well informed on some of these less than desirable happenings.

In the end, Jacob didn't give a rat's ass about The Illusive Man, as long as they are keeping humanity safe from threats like the Reapers.

Speaking of Reapers, it most certainly wasn't surprising that another human colony would be on their hit list. Hitting isolated human colonies is far more logical since no one really pays attention to them and they are lightly defended; usually by a battalion or more supported by light armor or mechs, it really depends on the population size and overall value of the colony.

The motives for attacking these colonies could vary and Jacob's tactical mind already brewed up a few possibilities. The Reapers could be simply dwindling the human population to make them weaker and easier to harvest, this could be because of Shepard destroying Sovereign. Or the Reapers could be attempting to divert humanity's attention away from something even bigger. Lastly, the Reapers could be trying to get the alliance to react and spread their forces thinly and leave themselves vulnerable.

" _Whatever the reason, they have to be stopped, and fast,"_ mused the veteran soldier.

The thought of an armada of thousands or millions of ships like Sovereign running rampant through the galaxy should be enough to keep Jacob up at night, but it didn't; he is too tired to stay awake scared out of his mind of an intergalactic extinction courtesy of an army of sentient synthetics light years more advanced than the geth. Jacob is tired of going on a scavenger hunt for Reaper sympathizers abducting human colonies without achieving any progress while the Alliance rebuilds and the council turns a blind eye to the whole thing.

One would have a better chance of getting struck by lightning a dozen times in the span of a minute than uncovering the whereabouts of these bastards.

The commander suddenly broke the silence and startled the frustrated soldier out of his thoughts.

"So, what can we expect to find on Freedom's Progress?"

Miranda elected to speak. "A whole lot of nothing and one big mystery."

The commander gave Miranda a withering glare before retorting. "Well that was inspiring." deadpanned the commander before checking over his weapons once more.

"Well that's what we found on our other little field trips to less recent colonies. Would you rather that I lie to you instead just to give you that modicum of hope?" Jacob scowled at Miranda for once again enabling Shepard.

"You're Cerberus, isn't lying your specialty?" questioned Shepard in an innocent tone which quickly transitioned to a smirk at Miranda's irritated expression.

Jacob elected to end this little confrontation before it escalated. "Miranda, Shepard, that's enough we have a mission to do and the two of you arguing isn't going to help us at all."

The two of them remained silent; Jacob allowed a little bit more force into his voice then he wanted to.

The soldier continued. "Miranda is right Shepard, we haven't found anything the last few times we visited the colonies, though these colonies were looted by scavengers. Still, even if we manage to get to Freedom's progress before anyone else does, there's no guarantee we'll find anything."

Shepard nodded while Miranda remained silent.

"Okay what is our objective?" the former asked in all seriousness.

"The Illusive Man put us under your command, and although he made the main objective abundantly clear, this is your mission therefore your plan." said Miranda in a monotone voice.

Jacob watched as an expression of confusion and a raised eyebrow suddenly found its way on Shepard's visage.

The commander spoke, "you're not in charge but I am?" questioned the commander.

It was a fair question indeed. Miranda was one of The Illusive Man's most trusted operatives and in turn one of Cerberus's most effective assets. It would make complete sense for The Illusive Man to place her in charge of the mission, especially since Shepard isn't officially Cerberus.

"The Illusive Man believes you to be more fit to lead. Your actions in defeating Saren and the geth only help to support that. The Illusive Man trusts you Shepard, more so than some of his senior operatives, don't let him down." stated Miranda with a stern voice that held the slightest tinge of irritation. It could have been from the thought of Shepard betraying Cerberus or the thought of The Illusive Man trusting him more than Miranda when it came to leading, other than that, Jacob did not know.

Jacob's commander only nodded before appearing as if he was in deep contemplation.

Shepard finally spoke. "Alright, this is a rather straightforward and linear mission, our primary objective stays the same; we are here to find anything pertaining to whoever has been abducting human colonies Reaper or otherwise. Secondary objective is to round up and extract any survivors we may come across-"

"Shepard all the other colonies that we came across were deserted, the chances of us finding anyone left on Freedom's Progress is very slim." interrupted Jacob in a soft tone.

Shepard glanced at the soldier before continuing. "I understand Jacob but if the opportunity presents itself then the survivors are coming with us. Miranda, what can you tell me about the colony, is there a chance of any hostile activity?"

Miranda looked up at the commander, as if she was surprised that Shepard would ask her for anything. "Freedom's Progress is completely average in every way, their security forces included about half a battalion of Alliance marines supported by security mechs. As far as any acts of hostility goes, I doubt anyone else will be there."

The commander simply nodded before checking over his weapons. Jacob thought that it was impressive how the commander can remain so calm despite his situation. Here he is two years after he died, brought back to life to protect humanity, and the commander hardly hesitated to throw himself into the next mission. For Jacob, it was an honour to serve with a man as dedicated and as skilled as Commander Shepard.

"We will reach Freedom's Progress in approximately sixty seconds, standby." Informed the pilot as the three experienced combatants stood up from their respective seats and readied their weapons.

Shepard's voice washed over the comms. "Remember, we are here for intel pertaining to the whereabouts of whoever is behind this. This means looking for physical evidence like DNA samples, security footage, and so on. In the rare chance we come across survivors, we extract them."

"Understood." came the crisp reply of Jacob.

Miranda merely nodded, her expression cold enough to rival the deepest depths of the arctic.

The shuttle landed and the door opened revealing to them the dark, cold, and snowy colony that was Freedom's Progress.

"One hell of a ghost town." muttered Jacob.

The elite team pressed on through the cold weather and into the unknown, searching for clues that likely don't even exist.

* * *

Shepard couldn't really wrap his head around what he was seeing as he cycled through his armor's functions and allowed the fresh night air of Freedom's Progress to enter the confines of his N7 helmet.

It was quiet… too quiet.

"No corpses, no signs of battle… nothing." Miranda chose to break the silence by stating the abundantly obvious which only proved to slightly annoy Shepard.

"Thanks Miranda, for a second I thought we were on Omega playing whack a mole with a band of entrenched pirates rather than sifting through a ghost town of a clusterfuck for nonexistent clues to whoever decided to abduct a select few certain human colonies." retorted Shepard rather sarcastically earning a deadly glare from Miranda and a smirk from Jacob who looked like he was trying to hold in a chuckle.

The area that surrounded them was completely empty with a few small crates scattered around here and there as well as a pair of fuel tanks on their right. To their front lied the homes where the colonists once lived. All of the lights appeared to still be on, so power was obviously not an issue. Everything seemed normal, untouched, the only thing missing is the inhabitants.

"Alright let's keeping moving, Jacob on me, Miranda bring up the rear guard." ordered Shepard with practised authority as the operators fell into their respective positions. The colony may appear to be abandoned, but looks can be deceiving, and Shepard wasn't going to let anything catch them off guard.

The team started at a fast paced walk with weapons trained on their twelve O'clock, ready for anything as they approached a door leading to a medium sized civilian structure. Shepard held up his fist, ordering the team to hold position, with a wave from his omnitool, the door opened revealing what appeared to be a dining room. The two tables to the right had uneaten food scattered all over it.

"Damn, looks like they just got up and left their dinner here." said Jacob with an impassive voice.

"Just like the other colonies." Miranda stated, a little more frustration in her voice than usual, much to the surprise of Shepard.

"Let's keeping moving." the team obliged unhesitantly and followed their leader through another door across the room which lead them to a catwalk outside. They proceeded left toward a relatively empty space with a few lights shining down on it.

"Glad to see the hosts of Freedom's Progress can be so accommodating to our presence." said James rather dryly earning a snort from the commander and silence from Miranda.

A large door stood in front of them, which seemed to be the only viable entrance. The commander located the terminal to the left and nonchalantly hacked it open with his omnitool.

The sounds of the hydraulics manipulating the door startled the commander and the door opened with a quickness that bellied its size. Past the door laid more civilian structures. There were several crates and a few civilian barriers. To the right was a staircase that led to an accessible building which seemed to lead to another part of the town.

What caught Shepard's eye however was a pair of humanoid figures standing idle in one of the buildings thirty meters in front of them.

Shepard squinted his eyes in order to better identify the figures through the moderate snowfall and was quite surprised to see that they were armed and fully functional LOKI mechs.

Before the commander could inform his team however, the two mechs raised their weapons and immediately opened fire on the team.

"Take cover!" bellowed the commander in response to the mostly inaccurate fire brought upon them from their synthetic adversaries. The few shots that did hit Shepard were merely deflected by his kinetic barrier.

Shepard was positioned on the left side of the door while Jacob and Miranda were on the opposite side.

Jacob leaned from his cover and began to open fire on what appeared to be a total of six mechs.

A burst from his rifle impacted a mech, the tiny sand grain sized shavings of metal impacted the light armor at a very small fraction of the speed of light. The armor was easily pierced but the mech didn't die because the miniscule size of the shavings didn't do tremendous damage to the mech's inner components.

It didn't matter however as the commander and Miranda joined Jacob in the shootout and riddled the mechs with well placed focused fire. They dropped one by one with precise fire from Shepard and Miranda, and a hailstorm from Jacob.

The scene around them returned to silence with Shepard and his team sharing confused glances at the unexpected appearance of the colony's autonomous security forces.

"So, anyone care to explain why the security mechs decided NOW would be the time to engage in combat with us as humans of all things rather than the real threat which would be the abductees?" questioned an irritated commander.

Jacob shrugged but Miranda answered. "I don't know Shepard, security systems were disabled on all the other colonies. That means that there must be someone else here with enough hacking skill to reprogram the possibly the entire mech security force and order them to fire upon anything that breathes, including humans."

"Well… at least this little field trip won't be boring… for me anyways." admitted Jacob much to the amusement of Shepard.

"On me."

Shepard and his team proceeded up the stairs on their right towards the building. Said building's door opened without their intervention revealing a pair of FENRIS mechs. The dog like synthetics sprinted at full speed, hoping to get close enough to use their stun devices which also have a lethal option.

Before Shepard could open fire however, an aura of blue surrounded the mechs and sent them about ten feet into the air and left them there suspended. Without missing a beat, Shepard and Jacob opened fire on the mechs, they didn't last long.

The commander looked to his left and saw Miranda lowering her hand and allowed the swiss cheese-like mechs to full to the ground, each emitting a fairly loud thump.

"Bit of a close call, but nice work Miranda." complimented Jacob.

The commander only nodded in agreement before cycling a new thermal clip into his weapon and continuing through what appeared to be a very small hospital. Shepard looked over the beds and saw medical supplies scattered about including medical appliances such as syringes.

The commander's hopes got the best of him. "Miranda, can you scan these syringes for any DNA?" the commander thought that maybe the abductees could also be after human DNA for whatever reason, it's possible that they could have fumbled and left traces of their DNA.

Jacob's head perked up at the mention of possible evidence, but Miranda remained unsure, unconvinced, as if she somehow knew that they wouldn't get anything out of this.

Regardless, she activated her omni tool and ran scans over anything that looked convincing while the commander and Jacob kept watch.

"Nothing, I couldn't even find human DNA." muttered Miranda. "It's as if they want to remove all human presence to the point of it looking like humanity has never step foot on this planet."

"So obviously these guys are very organized and professional, plus they have the technology to back it up. We should get going to the main security center, whoever turned those mechs back on has to be here. They probably have answers too." theorized Shepard, the team proceeded out of the building.

A pair of LOKI mechs suddenly popped up from behind cover, clearly a well planned ambush considering how basic their programming is.

The mechs raised their weapons-

-And were gunned down miraculously thanks to the quick reflexes and special forces grade training of the trio of combatants.

"These mechs are fairly smart if they are capable of ambushing us, however simple it may be." said Jacob.

"All the more reason for us to be cautious, don't let your guard down and check your corners, we're going into that building." advised Shepard, referring to the civilian structure that the mechs were standing in front of.

The team stacked up on the door. Shepard attempted to open the door only to be locked out by some kind of hack.

"Damn, someone locked us out, they must of done it to keep these mechs out."

"Survivors then?" questioned Jacob, his expression appearing to take on one of significant positivity.

"I'm not taking any chances, be ready, I'm hacking this door open." Miranda and Jacob tensed up, ready to tackle any threat that may be lurking on the other side.

Shepard nodded, satisfied with his team's professionalism, even if they are Cerberus. The commander short circuited the door's locks, hydraulics, and failsafes with a well placed trojan virus. The door opened and before he even knew it, Shepard rushed through the door with his weapon raised.

The sight that met him was quite shocking. Before him stood five Quarians, armed, possibly spec ops judging by their theatre of operation.

"Stop right there!" ordered one of the quarians as they closed the distance between each other.

Instinctively, they raised their weapons at the approaching humans who returned in kind, but no one fired.

One of the Quarians, a female, pushed pass the rest of her comrades and put herself between the humans and the quarians.

"Prazza, you said you'd let me handle this." she said as she lowered the lead quarian's weapon.

The voice… it sounded all too familiar.

Shepard's eyes widened.

 _Could it be?_

The female quarian suddenly turned around to face the humans and then froze once her eyes settled on Shepard.

"Wait… Shepard?"

Shepard's heart jumped to his throat; it really was Tali, all that time and here she was, one of his great friends from the Normandy on an abandoned human world where coincidentally he was assigned to investigate. What are the odds?

But before he could respond, the quarian known as Prazza interrupted. "I'm not taking any chances with Cerberus operatives.

Shepard rolled his eyes underneath his helmet.

 _Now's really not the time_

"Put those weapons down!" ordered Tali with a raised voice of powerful authority that Shepard didn't know she possessed.

Tali turned her attention to the supposedly dead commander. "Shepard, is that…. You're alive?" the awe in her voice is unmistakable as Shepard finally snapped himself out of the trance that he was in; his friend, standing right in front of him just ten feet away.

Still Shepard recognized the uncertainty in her voice. She was unsure that the man standing before her is Shepard. The commander deduced that perhaps if he reminded Tali of a significant memory regarding their friendship, then he could convince her that he is indeed alive and in front of her.

Shepard took a deep, inaudible breath before continuing. "Remember when I gave you that Geth data, Tali? Did it help you complete your pilgrimage?"

"Yes it did." Tali responded in a soft voice, remembering the moment before continuing. "Prazza, weapons down. This is definitely Commander Shepard."

Shepard was glad he could defuse that situation, the last thing he wanted has one of his original friends trying to turn him into swiss cheese.

The Quarian, Prazza, did as he was told and placed his weapon on his back. "Why is your old commander working for Cerberus?"

Tali looked at the Quarian for a second before turning back to the commander. "I don't know, maybe we should ask him."

Shepard took this as his queue to start talking. "As much of a shock this is to you Tali, Cerberus spent the last two years rebuilding my body. They want me to investigate human colonies that have had their populations wiped out of existence, colonies like this one."

Shepard stopped talking to let his words sink in before continuing.

"They are the only ones doing anything about this, so I had to make my choice. Don't worry, I am only doing this for humanity not Cerberus."

Before Tali could respond, Prazza interjected. "Unlikely, no organization would commit so many resources to bring back one soldier."

Tali, to Shepard's surprise automatically retorted. "You haven't seen Shepard in action Prazza. Trust me, it was money well spent."

The commander allowed a private smile to bestow itself upon his features beneath his helmet at the hidden complement and her willingness to still come to his side despite the fact that he technically works for Cerberus now.

Tali always was shy, and to see her taking an authoritative role made Shepard proud to see her change like this.

His thoughts however were cut short when Tali turned around to address the human operatives.

"Perhaps we could work together, we're here looking for a young Quarian named Veetor. He was here on Pilgrimage."

Shepard raised on eyebrow at this.

 _That's strange, a Quarian on Pilgrimage_ _at a remote human colony? Maybe he was the one who turned on the security mechs, he could have answers to what is going on here._

"That's a little strange, why would a Quarian visit a remote human colony?" asked Shepard.

"Quarians can choose where they go on Pilgrimage. Veetor liked the idea of helping a small settlement. He was always… nervous in crowds."

To the commander, that was strange. Although the Quarian fleet was composed of an astonishing fifty thousand ships, it still wasn't very accomodating for a population of seventeen million. Therefore life was very cramped for the Quarians. A Quarian being nervous in crowds despite their living conditions calling for constant presence within a crowd was completely unheard of to Shepard.

Before Shepard could speak, Prazza decided to elaborate for Tali. "She means that he was unstable. Combine that with damage to his suit's CO2 scrubbers and an infection from an open-air exposure, and he's likely delirious."

"When he saw us landing, he hid in a warehouse on the far side of town. We suspect he also programmed the mechs to attack anything that moves."

It made sense to Shepard, if what Prazza said was true, then Prazza is likely extremely paranoid. If he witnessed whatever happened to the colonists, then it is entirely in the realm of possibility that he is traumatized and liable to snap. That can result in a dangerous and unpredictable individual that will likely have difficulty cooperating. They had to tread lightly.

Another problem would be the Quarians themselves. For reasons unknown to Shepard, they hate Cerberus with a passion. They might not be willing to cooperate with the human operatives because of that hatred. But Shepard had to try.

"Veetor's the only one that knows what happened here. We should team up to find him. We'll get the data, and you can get him out of here."

While Shepard's voice or body language gave no hint of it, he was secretly hoping and praying for the cooperation of the Quarians. He seriously would accept the extra backup in a heartbeat.

Tali replied almost instantly. "Good idea, you'll need two teams to get past the drones anyway." the commander smiled.

Prazza elected to speak in a rather hostile tone. "Now we're working with Cerberus?" the commander frowned.

"No Prazza, you're working for me. If you can't follow orders, go wait on the ship." The Quarian remained silent.

Tali then turned back towards the commander. "Head for the warehouse through the center of the colony. We'll circle around the far side and draw off some of the drones to clear you a path."

"Your people hate Cerberus, more than I anticipated, anyone care to elaborate?" the question came out rather emotionlessly since the commander could understand their hatred, yet it could be a problem later on.

"They killed our people, infiltrated our flotilla, and tried to blow up one of our ships." answered Prazza with a bit of venom in his voice.

Miranda decided to speak up for the first time. "That's not how I'd have explained it exactly. It was nothing personal."

The commander gave Miranda a scathing glare, however difficult through his helmet. The operative however remained unperturbed so the commander simply rolled his eyes.

 _So fanatically loyal and blind._ Though Shepard as he turned to face the Quarians once more.

"We can argue over who killed who later. Right now, we've got a job to do." reasoned Jacob, to which the commander nodded in agreement; always the mediator Jacob seemed to be.

"Agreed, we work together to get to Veetor." Shepard couldn't help but smile at Tali; that same nervous girl we knew two years ago now transformed into a leader that carried authority through her voice. He could tell that she is still new to this role, but it made Shepard proud to see his former squad mate like this.

"Sounds good, make sure to maintain radio contact." said Shepard readying his weapon for emphasis.

"Will do. Goodluck Shepard, whatever happens… it's good to have you back." assured Tali, though not quite as cheerful as one would assume, perhaps because of Shepard's affiliation with Cerberus.

The Quarians made their way through the door behind them, out into the snow to meet their synthetic foes.

Shepard turned to his team, Jacob was checking over his weapon while Miranda was simply staring at him waiting for orders.

"Alright I'll take point, we're gonna punch right through the drones to get to Veetor. The Quarians should divert some of them off of our route, but be ready for anything and check your sectors." ordered Shepard as he assumed his respective position in front of the team.

Jacob responded in the affirmative while Miranda only nodded.

The Cerberus operatives moved as one out into the eerie darkness and cold, ready to take on any threat that may lurk in the forsaken settlement.

* * *

Few words could express Tali's feelings at this sudden moment; Shepard is alive. The man that lead her and the rest of the Normandy across the galaxy to prevent galactic genocide was, not a moment ago, standing right in front of her, breathing and talking as any organic being would.

Yet what startled her was the people he has affiliated himself with: Cerberus. The scum that almost destroyed a Quarian ship and threatened the lives of thousands of her people. An act like that will never allow them to be expunged from the list of enemies her people have acquired. The shadowy human organization is worse than pirates and slavers in Tali's opinion. With Cerberus only focused on human dominance, at least pirates are usually more ethical than Cerberus, they only wish to expand their wealth. Cerberus tortures and experiments on living beings for sick goals.

Tali knew that her former commander isn't truly with Cerberus, she recognized his personality during that confrontation. She suspects that Shepard is merely using their resources to stop the Reapers, since that is what Cerberus seems willing to do.

It was a close call, she's lucky that Prazza didn't start shooting, if Shepard retained even half of his combat skill, then they would have been in a world of hurt if things went south.

They were currently fifty meters from the meeting point of her squad and Shepard's, so far so good.

Tali figured that calling in the second team to assist them would be a good call since things were going to get dicey with the mechs. She informed them about the humans' presence, much to their irritation.

There were currently ten of them all moving in a thin wedge formation down a wide path leading up to a large building. There was some cover here and there that could be used in case of an ambush.

Dealing with the mechs prior to the meeting with Shepard was a pain, however no casualties were suffered, these humans sure knew how to build mechs, but so far no real problems occurred.

 **DETECTING UNKNOWN ENTITIES, ASSUME HOSTILE**

The team stopped.

"Watch it, sounds like it came from the front." warned a male Quarian as the team spread out furthermore and took cover behind several crates and the protruding walls of buildings.

Tali waited for what felt like an eternity, her nervousness was getting the better of her; she needed to work on that.

Finally a trio of LOKI mechs and a FENRIS mech turned around the left most corner and opened fire on the Quarians who responded in kind.

What remained was four synthetic corpses that looked more like swiss cheese than mechs… ten automatic and CQC weapons pointed at the same target tends to have that effect.

"Looks like we're-" the Quarian didn't finish as over a dozen LOKI mechs rushed around the corner and opened fire, the Quarian that dropped his guard and spoke lost his life as he was hit several times, the kinetic barrier didn't help.

"Synthetic Bosh'tets." shouted Prazza as he let loose several bursts from his rifle upon the fairly resilient mechs.

His insult was followed by more Quarian gunfire as the mechs began to fall over one by one, their armor not lasting very long under the sustained and combined albeit somewhat inaccurate fire.

Tali continued firing her shotgun off at the ever decreasing blob of mechs, at this range, her weapons was not very effective, however the notion of suppressive fire was not lost on her from basic training.

Suddenly she felt a heavy pressure on her left shoulder, it lasted only a microsecond before subsiding. Her kinetic barrier drained slightly and Tali cursed as she met the threat on her ten O'clock.

How Tali didn't see that mech she didn't know, and it didn't matter as she she used her omni tool to hack into the mech's elementary security systems. The mech stopped firing momentarily before lighting up its own comrades.

Tali grinned before vaulting over her crate and making a mad dash towards Prazza who was only fifteen meters on her one O'clock hiding behind the protrusion of a small structure.

Several more shots drained her shield completely, the Quarian panicked and dove behind cover with Prazza, narrowly avoiding additional fire.

"That was stupid Tali, you could have gotten yourself killed!" bellowed Prazza as he cycled a thermal clip into his Avenger assault rifle.

"Says the trigger happy bosh'tet that almost got us into a shootout with Shepard." retorted tali as she fired another round from her shotgun, the weapon kicked against her should as the sand grain sized pieces of metal spread rapidly and only a few shots grazed a rather aggressive LOKI mech that was pushing in front of the synthetics.

A pair of Quarians on Tali's left across the street shifted their attention to said mech and fired… they didn't miss.

Another squad sized force composed of LOKI and FENRIS mechs suddenly joined the fight and added to the firepower of the synthetic foes.

 _Keelah, at this rate, we'll never get to Veetor._

Tali decided to check on Shepard's progress.

"Shepard it's Tali, what's your status?"

" _So far so good Tali we haven't met much resistance so far."_ replied Shepard, Tali could hear gunfire in the background and what appeared to be the other male human shouting out a distinct set of 'choice' words as Tali would like to call them.

"Okay understood, we're meeting heavy resistance from the mechs but we're thinning them out. Should be able to break through soon."

" _Copy that, good luck."_ said Shepard before cutting the transmission.

"How's Shepard?" asked Prazza between bursts of fire.

"The plan is working if that makes you feel any better." replied Tali as she began laying down more ineffective suppressive fire with her CQC specific weapon.

"Right." growled Prazza with anger that surprised Tali.

Tali decided not to ask anymore questions and instead continued firing at the ever decreasing security mechs.

* * *

Shepard cycled another thermal clip into his weapon as Miranda sent another mech on an unexpected trajectory towards the door that lied in front of them. They have been making good progress so far only running into a few patrols and the occasional squad sized force. It wasn't much of a challenge for the three elite combatants to dispatch the hostiles.

"Jacob status." bellowed Shepard through over the comms as he riddled another mech with automatic firepower.

"Left flank clear commander, pushing to flank enemy." responded Jacob in a calm, collected voice."

"Roger." the comms went silent.

The Quarians' distraction worked out phenomenally well, forcing the mechs to engage the numerically superior thus diverting more forces proportional to the number of Quarians, it didn't occur to him that Tali had a second team under her command.

It surprised the ex Spectre that Tali was given command of two teams to partake in a spec ops level extraction mission. She must be a hell of a soldier if she was assigned such a role in a risky mission like this.

The commander peaked out of cover and saw at least four mechs gathered around the ten foot tall door that they are endeavouring to get through. The mechs didn't even bother taking cover behind the half a dozen or so crates which coincidentally were placed in front of the very thing that they are defending.

Miranda was making headway along the right flank, using her biotics in an efficient manner by throwing mechs into each other or at other objects. Jacob's status was a cakewalk as he pressed along the left flank in an attempt to attack the mechs from the side.

Shepard vaulted over his crate and sprinted towards Miranda, putting a small biotic barrier between him and the enemy to protect his otherwise dangerous maneuver.

"Miranda." began the commander as he positioned himself next to the operative. "Maintain suppressive fire so that Jacob can get behind them."

"Understood." the Cerberus operative picked up a rapidly advancing mech with her biotics and crushed it easily. She then hurled the hunk of metal and circuitry at the main force in front of the door and followed up with an entire thermal clip's worth of fire at the general position of the mechs.

Said force shifted all of their attention at the intruding duo and unleashed a hailstorm of suppressive fire.

"Well that worked out well didn't it?" said Shepard rather sarcastically earning an irritated eye roll from Miranda.

"Hey Jacob, would you kindly hurry up and wipeout these pricks? Our resident Cerberus princess has kindly provided you with a distraction." exasperated the commander.

"Don't worry commander, I got this." assured the ex Marine.

Suddenly, there was the sound of warping metal and a series of gunshots.

The commander looked up from behind cover and smirked. About thirty meters away was Jacob standing next to a trio of dead mechs and two hunks of metal which were suspended in the air by Jacob's biotics.

The ex Marine let the former mechs fall to the ground with two thumps and the opened fire on the last mechs. Shepard and Miranda followed suit and in a single minute the mechs were no longer moving.

"Clear?" questioned the commander, not willing to let any ambushes arrive unexpectedly.

"Clear." confirmed Miranda. The trio cycled new thermal clips and moved towards the door.

Jacob looked at the commander who merely nodded in response. The ex Marine opened the door via omni tool.

The door opened and the team moved forward-

-and doved out of the way as a rocket shot past them and impacted a building behind them. More gunfire followed as the team scrambled for cover.

Shepard slowly peaked out from behind his side of the door and saw several drones perched on roof tops.

"Damn, drones have the whole area locked down." muttered Shepard as he began to tap his foot in irritation.

If they made a break for cover to close the distance, they might not make it, and the anti personnel rockets that the rocket drone carried might not have a large explosive yield, but they are still extremely dangerous.

"Jacob." called out Shepard across the open door to the ex Marine whose focus was now on Shepard.

"Stay here and provide suppressive fire on my mark; we need a distraction." ordered Shepard, not quite waiting for an answer as his focus shifted to Miranda.

"Miranda once I give the word, I want you to give us a biotic barrier as we close the distance twenty meters towards the hostiles." Shepard stopped and seemed satisfied.

He was about to give the order to commence the attack before another problem crossed his mind.

"Oh, and also the rocket drone is a priority target…" Shepard trailed off and peaked out of cover once more, looking for said target. "Target is twelve O'clock ,forty meters, thirty five degrees up." rattled off the commander with ease.

Shepard spared a glance at his team before nodding to himself.

"On my mark." time seemed to slow down only slightly as the commander shouldered his weapon, Jacob copied the action, and Miranda prepared to summon a biotic barrier.

"Mark." time sped back up and so did the pace of combat as Miranda moved forward at a fast walking pace with the commander in tow.

Shepard sighted in at the rocket drone, the small tripod figure fired a rocket at the advancing duo. The explosive impacted the barrier and its small explosive warhead was triggered. Miranda grunted and stopped momentarily from the strain of taking the explosive energy.

Shepard raised his weapon and fired, the rifle kicked against his shoulder and impacted the drone's shield. It didn't die.

"Just die dammit." growled the commander as he continued his automatic assault. He could hear Jacob's weapon roaring behind him.

The drone didn't last long under the extreme fire as its shields failed and its light armor was easily punctured, it toppled over and didn't move.

Shepard exhaled a breath he didn't even know he was holding in.

 _Well good thing that bastard kicked the bucket._

"Jacob maintain your position and return fire." the ex Marine didn't respond.

No response was needed. A special forces team as skilled as this one tends to keep things 'simple stupid' because every second in a firefight is valuable and a single mishap could spell doom for a soldier… or his entire unit.

Jacob regardless let loose several bursts of fire and downed a pair of the annoying drones. The ex Spectre spotted another group of drones flying to the general direction of the Quarians.

"Tali careful, you've got at least half a dozen drones pushing on your nine O'clock ETE forty seconds." warned the commander, the sound of heavy gunfire and the occasional explosion washed over the comms.

"Understood Shepard, we're pushing forward, meeting heavy resistance but it's manageable, three casualties sustained." informed the female Quarian as the gunfire grew slightly less hectic.

How many mechs does this ghost town have?

"I read you, keep pressing the attack, Shepard out." he killed the transmission.

 _Persistent bastards._ Grumbled Shepard inwardly referring to the mechs.

"How's things on their side?" questioned Miranda with a scowl on her face which turned to mild satisfaction as her biotics sent a mech flying into a solid metal wall.

"Their advancing forward, but those mechs aren't letting up."

Miranda only grunted, her gun barking in agreement followed by Shepard's as yet another trio of drones failed to hold back the ever persistent organic aggressors.

After a minute of consistent fire, the last drone succumbed to the humans, effectively depriving the area of synthetics.

Without saying a word, Shepard took point with his team in tow. The passed through the door of an empty household and checked their corners.

Nothing was there.

Suddenly without warning, Tali's voice pierced the silence. "Shepard! Prazza and his squad rushed on ahead. I told them to wait but they wouldn't listen. They want to find Veetor and take him away before you get here!"

Shepard growled, Veetor is the only one who knows what happened and there is no way in hell he's going to let that two bit backstabber, Prazza, take away their one chance of finally learning who's behind this.

"We should have expected this." said Miranda, with the least amount of satisfaction possible.

"We can still catch them if we hurry up." assured Jacob.

The commander kept moving down several flights of stairs towards a large door which supposedly led to the warehouse where Veetor took refuge. The sound of gunfire and explosions confirmed that the Quarians were on the other side. If they reach Veetor at the same moment the Quarians do, then it will be on heated argument over who gets what. However, Shepard only cared about getting evidence and intel concerning the whereabouts of the bastards that did this to the colonies, they can keep Veetor afterwards.

"Hurry Shepard, we're inside the loading docks. Veetor reprogrammed a heavy mech, it's tearing Prazza's squad apart!" Tali sounded panicked, meaning that their situation is rather dire.

"They did want to get to Veetor first." said Miranda, earning a humourless snort from Shepard.

 _She's right about that one._

"Get your squad into cover and I'll open the loading bay doors." Shepard didn't need to be told twice; the commander is not going to let Tali put herself at risk taking on such a dangerous foe.

The commander nodded to his squad; an experienced fireteam required only simple gestures or commands for orders, Shepard was satisfied.

Miranda and Jacob took positions on either side of the gargantuan door while Shepard hid behind a small barrier that face the closed maw.

"In position Tali, open the door now." came the unmistakable order that could only originate from the authoritarian figure that was Shepard.

Not a moment went by before the door opened, and before the commander knew what he was doing, the team already pushed past the open maw and were greeted with a desperate one sided battle.

One sided for the massive fourteen foot heavily armoured multi ton war machine that lumbered towards the scattered and disorganized aliens.

The commander spotted a trio of Quarians on his eleven O'clock retreating a firing at the monstrosity, their gunfire bouncing off of the kinetic barrier it has equipped.

The mech acquired its leftmost target relative to its twelve O'clock and let loose a horrifying barrage of fire which tore the poor alien asunder.

A second alien tripped as she was attempting to retreat, clumsy.

Shepard winced as the mech stepped on the Quarian instantly killing her. The commander suddenly found his mouth agape as he watched the mech fire its machine gun at point blank range at the dead Quarian.

 _Brutal_

The war machine pointed its other arm at a pair of Quarians and fired. The explosive warhead tore their shields apart and hurled them in the air. The YMIR heavy mech gunned down two more Quarians before turning its sights on the newcomers.

"Shit get down!" bellowed Jacob. He threw himself on the ground as if his body just combusted into flames. Shepard and Miranda followed suit, narrowly avoiding a hailstorm of fire.

"Well Jacob, you wanted a challenge so… bon appetit." joked the commander in an over exaggeration of cheeriness.

"Not funny." exasperated the ex Marine.

"Miranda, hit that thing with your biotics, Jacob flank right, I'll go left."the combatants fell into their respective roles with Miranda hurling crates at the mech and occasionally attempting to push it back. The latter had little to no effect on the mech's massive weight.

The commander nodded before sprinting along his aforementioned route, momentarily ignoring the mech before he stopped on its three O'clock. He noted the Jacob was across from him and only nodded to the ex Marine.

Both combatants unleashed a hailstorm of fire on the giant opponent from either side. The mech in turn stopped, as if confused, before turning on Jacob with one arm, it fired a rocket at the ex Marine. His eyes widened momentarily before he jumped out of the way. His distance was augmented by the shockwave of the rocket's explosion as it carried him a considerable distance through the air.

The second arm let loose more gunfire on Shepard's position, said commander ducked behind a barrier, dully noting that he is pinned down.

A pair of automatic weapons barked at the mech and Shepard looked up from behind his cover to see Miranda and the surprisingly recovered Jacob draining the rest of the Shields from the mech. Its shields failed but its armor stood strong deflecting fire from three weapons now.

"Warp its armor." ordered the commander.

All three biotics unleashed their might upon the single foe. The mech stopped moving as pieces of armor was torn off and parts of the mech were slightly crushed. The effects of the biotic power wore off and the mech's inner components were revealed.

Without a second thought. The team opened fire on the mech, it sparked and spewed white conductive fluid on the ground. It stopped moving completely, still as a statue, before falling to the ground with an exceptionally loud thump.

Shepard inhaled and exhaled before gesturing for his team to follow him.

"Tali, the mech is down, have you found Veetor?" questioned Shepard.

"I'm currently tending to the wounded Shepard, Veetor is probably in the back of the loading bay." responded Tali, her voice now calm and controlled.

Shepard took the advice and moved to the aforementioned loading bay section. The humans approached the door slowly with weapons shouldered and trained on their twelve O'clock. The commander utilized his omni tool to open the door.

The room which they entered was dark save for the ominous red tinted light that lit up all but the darkest corners of the room. Across the room sat a young, male Quarian; Veetor, who appeared to have his eyes glued to the series of screens connected to a myriad of security cameras throughout the town.

Veetor spoke. "Monsters coming back. Mechs will protect. Safe from swarms, have to hide, no monsters, no swarms. No-no-no-no-no." Prazza wasn't kidding when he regarded Veetor's mental instability.

Shepard and his team placed their weapons on their backs and moved inside the building, the door closed behind them.

"Veetor?" called out Shepard in a soft and friendly voice, so that Veetor will acknowledge him as anything but a threat.

"No Veetor, not hear, swarms can't find, monsters coming, have to hide."

"Nobody's going to hurt you Veetor, you're safe now." assured Shepard.

"I don't think he can hear you commander." said Jacob as he scrutinized the several computer screens in front of Veetor.

Shepard activated his omni tool.

"Have to hide, mechs will protect-" with a wave from his omni tool, the computer screens turned off from right to left. The Quarian leaned back in his chair and simply stared at the screens.

The Quarian looked behind him and upon perceiving the humans, stood up from his chair to acknowledge them.

"You're human. Where did you hide? How come they didn't find you?" Questioned the Quarian, his voice now calm upon realization that he is not the only organic.

"Who didn't find us?" interrogated Miranda in a voice that brooked no argument.

Veetor turned his head to stare directly at Miranda, as if she grew an extra limb, before answering. "The… the monsters. The swarms. They took everyone." Answered Veetor. Shepard noted that he sounded confused, as if their lack of knowledge on these 'swarms' and 'monsters' was preposterous.

Shepard decided to ask the question that was currently on the humans' mind the most. "Why didn't the colonists fight back Veetor? What happened?"

Veetor turned his body slightly towards the consoles. "You don't know, you didn't see, but I see everything." He then pressed a button on the console. The security feed showed what was thought to be an unsolvable mystery.

"Security footage, he must have pieced together manually." stated Miranda, as if the whole galaxy already knew the answer.

This is pretty impressive if the Quarian did piece this together. If what he knows about the culprits is true, then they are very meticulous when it comes to erasing any evidence of their existence. This means that Veetor had virtually nothing to go off of, he pretty much accomplished this from scratch.

The security footage showed hundreds of insects flying throughout the town as well as a strange insectoid alien walking around as if inspecting the colony.

"What the hell is that?" questioned Jacob.

"My god, I think it's a collector." said Miranda in an astonished voice that surprised Shepard.

The collectors are an extremely mysterious alien race that always keep to themselves. Shepard was shocked to see them as the culprits of the colony disappearances. They usually work through intermediaries like slavers or mercs. Their possible affiliation with the Reapers could explain what happened to these colonies.

"The collectors have advanced technology. They could have a weapon that can disable an entire settlement." said Jacob.

Shepard didn't respond. His face wrinkled in disgust and anger as he watched a pair of collectors piling human bodies into a corner. He then shifted his focus over to the strange ominous insects flying throughout the town with impunity.

Veetor, as if sensing Shepard's unsaid question, elaborated. "Seeker swarms. No one can hide. They find you, freeze you, then the monsters take you away."

"What happened next?" interrogated the commander, his voice remaining calm and soft.

"The monsters took the people onto the ship and flew away. But they'll be back for me; no one escapes!" answered Veetor in a panicked voice at the thought of being captured by the insectoid intruders.

Jacob voiced the commander's thoughts. "I think that's all we're getting out of him commander."

"We appreciate what you told us. You were very helpful." assured the commander.

Veetor suddenly activated his omni tool and spoke once more. "I studied them. The monsters. The Swarms. I recorded them with my omni tool. Lot's of readings. Electromagnetic. Dark energy."

"We need to get this data to The Illusive Man. Grab the Quarian and call the shuttle to come pick us up." said Miranda in what sounded like an unsaid order.

However, before Shepard could berate her, the door opened revealing an angry Tali, who stormed into the room and placed herself between Veetor and the humans.

"Veetor is injured, he needs treatment not an interrogation." exasperated Tali in an angry voice that would tolerate not a single response for a solitary second.

"We won't hurt him. We just need to see if he knows anything else. He'll be returned unharmed." assured Jacob, not realizing Shepard's increased irritation at what Jacob just said; Jacob specifically stated to Shepard that he doesn't believe Veetor personally could give them anymore information.

"Your people tried to betray us once already. If we give him to you, we'll never get the intel we need." elaborated the Cerberus princess.

"Prazza was an idiot and he and his men paid for it. You're welcome to take Veetor's omni tool data, but please, just let me take him." retorted Tali.

Shepard understood Tali's concern; despite the assurance bestowed upon her by Miranda and Jacob, Shepard knew better. He knew that Cerberus would torture and likely kill Veetor and he would never make it to the flotilla. The commander would never allow anyone to suffer such a fate. Besides, Tali is his friend and she never let him down before, so why should he?

Shepard looked Miranda dead in the eye as he spoke. "He's traumatized and needs medical care. Tali will give us the omni tool data and take him back to the flotilla." stated the commander in a tone that would normally be utilized in stating a well known fact.

"Understood commander." replied Miranda, her voice icy cold, and countenance almost completely unreadable. Shepard still recognized irritation however.

"Thank you Shepard." said commander turned to face Tali. "I'm glad you're still the one giving the orders." the commander smiled.

"Good luck out there. If I can find anything that can help you, I'll let you know." assured the Quarian in a firm voice.

"Thank you Tali." the commander nodded at her.

"We're ready for pickup, coordinates for LZ are marked." said Jacob over the comms, instructing the pilot of the shuttle where to land.

Shepard took one last look at the security footage. Before nodding to his team.

 _This day just keeps getting better and better._

The humans and Quarians filed out of the building and into the the open space of the loading docks.

"Our ship is on the other side of town, don't worry we'll be fine. I'll see you another time Shepard." said Tali as she, Veetor, and two surviving Quarians endeavoured to return to their ship and egress the colony.

The Cerberus shuttle suddenly appeared and landed gracefully in the middle of the loading docks, its doors opened and the humans entered. They took their respective positions and the doors closed and the shuttle ascended into the inky blackness of space.

"Well, that was a nice field trip." said Shepard rather sarcastically earning an amused and an unimpressed stare.

"What?"

* * *

There are few things that The Illusive Man did not know, and fewer still that could stay unknown. His biggest fear is lack of knowledge, for knowledge is power. It could be the very definitive factor between victory and defeat, innovation and lack thereof.

Not knowing the culprits between the colony disappearances is currently his biggest fear. Humanity is vulnerable, even more so not knowing what threatens it. He sent Shepard because he is the best, he only accepts the best because this mission can only be accomplished by the best. His loyalty to Cerberus may be questionable, but like Jacob, he accepts his honesty.

Shepard may disagree with his methods, but if he's out there doing anything in his power to protect humanity, then The Illusive Man was pleased.

The Cerberus leader recognized the fact that Shepard couldn't do this on his own, no one can. Therefore he has devoted some time to tracking down potential candidates to assist Shepard in his endeavours. Shepard's original team likely have different allegiances or simply can't be tracked; a lot can change in two years.

So far, he has found a few potential candidates.

Zaeed Massani, a feared and respected mercenary with years of experience under his belt. If even half of what the Cerberus leader heard about the merc was true, then Zaeed is truly a force to be reckoned with. The Illusive Man would go far enough to say that Zaeed's skill with a rifle could match even Shepard's perhaps. An acceptable paycheck will have the mercenary's loyalty in a heartbeat.

Mordin Solus, a brilliant salarian scientist. Knowledge is power, and Shepard's team will need genius individuals that can help develop countermeasures to the Reaper threat and their accomplices. Although his methods are questionable, the salarian has always done it for the greater good no matter what race is involved.

Kasumi Goto, a master thief and escape artist. Her stealth skills are indeed valuable to Shepard's cause. Sometimes with is better to be a delicate and precise scalpel rather than a sledge hammer. Her greed might be a nuisance but The Illusive Man had faith that Shepard can cope.

He had a myriad of other files on less desirable individuals who are still skilled enough to earn a modicum of his attention. With this team Shepard will succeed.

 _He has to._

* * *

The Cerberus shuttle gracefully landed at a familiar location and deposited its living contents into the massive maze of Cerberus R&D. Shepard and his team remained silent as the passed through the security checkpoints thanks to Miranda's authorization.

It had been a long day indeed for Shepard, and he was dying to get some before anything happens, he needed to give The Illusive Man their post-mission report. He needs to know that the collectors are behind this.

After a few minutes of walking through the station. Shepard passed through the familiar waiting room and nodded to his team. Miranda and Jacob appeared tired too.

The ex Spectre mad his way down the stairs and once again stopped in the middle of the room. The holoview extended around him and enveloped Shepard. A moment later, he found himself, once again, face to face with the Cerberus leader.

"Shepard I assume that there wasn't too much trouble on Freedom's Progress?" questioned the Cerberus leader, his synthetic-like eyes unblinking as he spoke.

"Nothing we couldn't handle." replied Shepard, earning a nod of approval from The Illusive Man.

"I assume that you have the data from the Quarians?" pressed on the commander.

"Indeed, no new data however, but it's a surprising olive branch given our history." replied The Illusive Man after taking a long drag from his cigar.

He continued. "Our methods are different, but I can't argue with your results." Shepard was tempted to roll his eyes.

"You ever think about playing nice once in a while?" asked Shepard in an aggressive tone.

"Diplomacy is great when it works, but difficult when everyone already perceives you as a threat." replied the Cerberus leader.

 _Yeah, no kidding._

The Illusive Man's stubbornness is something straight from the realm of supernatural, especially when regarding diplomacy. There's a reason why no one likes Cerberus, not even most humans.

"What's more important, however, is that you confirmed that the collectors our behind the abductions." Shepard raised an eyebrow at this.

"So you knew about them then?" interrogated the commander, crossing his arms in a manner that clearly stated 'don't even try to weasel yourself out of this one.'

Of course The Illusive Man would know, why wouldn't he? The man has an unhealthy fetish with intelligence gathering, enough to make a normal person sick, really. What pissed the commander off, however, was that The Illusive Man didn't tell him the possibility that the Collectors could be the culprits. This is a perfect example why diplomacy is something that Cerberus simply is horrible at; they keep too many secrets.

"I had my suspicions, I needed proof. The Collectors are enigmatic at best." The Illusive Man took a sip of alcohol.

" _Does he only drink alcohol?"_ wondered Shepard as his mind slightly drifted off. He shook himself mentally to stay focused; sleep can wait.

"The Collectors travel periodically to the Terminus Systems to gather seemingly unimportant items or specimens. Usually in exchange for their technology before vanishing back into the Omega 4 Relay."

That's true, there seems to be no legitimate reason for the abductions of these colonies. They have no strategic role whatsoever. But if they are agents for the Reapers, then there could be a hundred reasons.

"There could be many different reasons why the Collectors are doing this, any idea on specifics?" asked the commander, hoping that the Cerberus leader may have some form of information courtesy of his vast network of contacts.

"Humanity played a large role in the destruction of Sovereign as I mentioned before. Perhaps they see humans as a larger threat because of that." Shepard nodded; not much information but it made sense.

The well dressed man took another drag from his cigar before continuing. "What really concerns me is why they bother abducting those colonists. Once they are paralyzed, why not just kill them?" that did raise questions.

Human hostages on such a scale is a problem, but what they are planning to do with them is beyond even the galaxy's brightest minds. The Reapers and their accomplices are about as unpredictable as things get. The best course of action is to solve the solvable problems, at least then the galaxy will have a chance.

"If this means that we are targeting the collectors, then it means going through the Omega 4 Relay, what can you tell me about it?" the question staccatoed its way out of the commander's mouth, coated with a bit of determination at getting revenge on the Collectors. This feeling of revenge sprouted from the knowledge that they are likely supporting the Reapers.

"We don't know much, but the most prominent piece of data we know so far is that no ship has ever returned upon entering it." replied the man, his face grim.

"So… what? The Collectors have the other side of the relay well defended then?" The Illusive Man sighed in response, confusing the commander.

"I suppose that's a viable theory." began The Illusive Man. "But more realistically, we believe that they can somehow manipulate the relays to react differently to their ships, allowing only safe passage to them. If this is true, then it only serves as evidence to their affiliation with the Reapers." Shepard looked down at the floor for a second.

If that's true, then imagine if they manipulated all the other relays. The galaxy would be defenseless as the only effective transportation corridor would tear apart any ship that enters, while it allows safe passage for the Reapers.

Shepard shuddered at the thought; they'd be trapped with nowhere to go, while the Reapers had free reign over them all.

" _One Problem at a time."_ mentally assured the ex Spectre as he looked up to face The Illusive Man.

"You're holding something back. How do you know that the Reapers are involved." said ex spectre asked.

"It's there buried in the data. The Alliance and Council want to believe that the Reaper threat died with Sovereign, you and I know better. I won't wait until the Reapers are on the march. We need to take the fight to them."

"I agree." began Shepard before sighing. "But if we are really going after the Collectors I'll need an army, or a really good team."

The Illusive Man didn't even hesitate as he brought up several holographic files. "I've already compiled a list of soldiers, scientists, and mercenaries. You'll get dossiers on the best of them."

Shepard's eye twitched slightly underneath his helmet. " _No way in hell anyone's replacing my old team."_

"I appreciate it but I'd work much better with my original team." deadpanned Shepard, his voice anything but appreciation.

"I understand your reluctance to accept newcomers onto your team, but it's been two years, Shepard. Your original teams' allegiances could have changed drastically." replied the Cerberus leader.

"Fine, but if I manage to come into contact with them, you better accept the fact that I'm gonna do anything in my power to bring them with me." retorted the commander.

There was silence, before the commander spoke once more. "I think this conversation will get us nowhere right now. You worry about the collectors, I'll get my team ready."

"Good." the Cerberus leader took another sip of alcohol. "Two things before you go: first, head to Omega and find Mordin Solus. He's a brilliant salarian scientist. Our intelligence suggests he may know how to counteract the Collectors' paralyzing seeker swarms."

Shepard nodded, digesting the information with satisfaction.

"Ok, what's the other thing?"

"I found a pilot I think you might like, I hear he's one of the best, someone you can trust." and with that, The Illusive Man hit a button and the holoview disappeared, leaving a confused Shepard.

" _Who could be this pilot that he was talking about?"_ wondered the commander.

He soon got his answer when a familiar voice was heard directly behind him.

"Hey commander, Just like old times, huh?"

The commander's eyes widened, appearing to be more like dinner plates than eyes.

The immense shock was quickly replaced by a maddening grin.

" _This just got interesting."_

* * *

 **Well there we go, my second chapter. Again I sincerely apologize for the massive delay and I hope you guys understand. This chapter was a little rushed because I really wanted to get it out after such an embarrassing delay. I am slightly disappointed with the finished product but I hope you guys will like it. One more thing: please, please, PLEASE review! I want everyone's opinion ASAP ok? Anyways I'll begin work on the third Chapter right away, it's time for the dashing commander to meet the hulking super soldier. :)**


	3. Chapter 3

**So, my third chapter. We finally get to see Six's encounter with the commander. Not much to say here. Enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer:** Any and all characters are not my own. Neither is the Halo and Mass Effect series.

 **Rated M**

 **Chapter 3 - Interdimensional Happenings**

* * *

The pelican flew past geosynchronous orbit at hypersonic velocity with an agility and grace that bellied its size and bulk, leaving the wartorn planet behind it. Its troop bay and cockpit as quiet as the black void that now enveloped it.

The exfil mission was as easy as they came for the two pilots. What they were extracting made certain to paint the LZ with the blood of those that threatened their descent. The hot zone was as cold as the farthest reaches of the universe.

Through the blackness was a large, ominous, gray block that floated through space like an asteroid stuck in orbit.

"Infinity in visual range," informed the co-pilot, double checking all comms and tracking equipment in preparation for a safe conversation with the massive block of human ingenuity.

"Initiating systems check," continued the co-pilot, as if he was running on a pre-recorded message.

A post mission systems check was standard UNSC protocol for all aircraft before touchdown. It was done to reduce the amount of time the aircraft spent on the ground undergoing said systems check. Helped to speed up deployment of vital air assets. Invaluable during the horrifically one-sided slaughter that was the Human-Covenant War.

"Fuel levels at 73%," confirmed the pilot, looking over his shoulder at the troop bay, he could feel the void's presence.

"Hull integrity at 100%," this was as easy as breathing for the pilots, killing really wasn't.

"Hydraulic systems nominal," the void grew calmer.

"Thrusters, stabilization jets, and thrust vectors fully functional," confirmed the pilot, the grey block became larger with each growing second.

"Weapon systems hot, no need for rearmament. Contact the Infinity" the co-pilot pressed a series of commands into the pelican's advanced computer systems.

"Infinity actual this is Victor 2-1, how copy over?" there was an eerie silence, just like the void that made its presence felt with its mere appearance.

A young woman's voice was suddenly heard over the comms channel. "Infinity actual copies Victor 2-1 go ahead over," the co-pilot released a breath he had no idea he was holding.

"Infinity actual, we are requesting permission to land at hangar 1. We have the package, designation Tango-Whiskey-6-6-2-8," again, there was a pause, the seated co-pilot took the time to look over the displays on his console.

"Infinity actual copies Victor 2-1. You are cleared to land at hangar bay 1, please maintain cruising speed for the duration of the flight. Infinity actual out," the comm channel crackled and then cut off.

The rest of the trip was silent with the pelican getting closer and closer to the massive ship. As they got closer, the Infinity's ten frigate escort became visible to their eyes. The pilot identified their respective destination and manipulated the pelican as if it were an extension of his physical body. The pelican hardly vibrated from the touchdown thanks to the man's exemplary skills as a pilot.

Without saying a word, the pilot hit the button to open the troop bay door. He suddenly heard and felt very powerful and heavy footsteps grow further away as the void removed itself from the dropship.

Both men collectively sighed and slumped to their seats in relief.

* * *

The mission had gone well in Six's opinion, destroying the FOB along with its CO and complement of a pair of company sized forces will greatly help turn the tide of frontline combat in the favour of the UNSC and Swords of Sanghelios in that sector. It wasn't just that mission though, there was at least two dozen of them all performed with terrifying precision and brutality at the hands of the lone Spartan in the span of just two months.

Constant fighting hardly fatigued the Spartan, and his injuries and heavily damaged armor was little more than a nuisance. Although Lasky was nice enough to arrange a new set of armor for Mike regardless, to which the Spartan was infinitely grateful for.

While Kurt and Mendez did drill into the minds of the Spartans that technology can break and it is unwise to constantly rely on it, MJOLNIR truly is a remarkable piece of equipment. While Six will be hard pressed to put all of his faith in it, MJOLNIR is still like a second skin to any Spartan, and Six has made sure to take advantage of all of the perks of wearing the suit.

Six was pulled from his thoughts when the door of the pelican's troop bay opened up and revealed a chaotic scene in the hangar bay. Dozens of crew members scurried around the hangar lugging piles of weapons, munitions, and tools while marines, Spartans, and ODSTs performed weapons checks and fell into line before boarding the pelicans and are then sent back down to the battlefield. Broadswords and pelicans were being rearmed and warthogs and even the occasional scorpion tank can be seen lumbering past the Spartan before being picked up by the Pelicans.

 _So the UNSC isn't letting up on the Covenant. Good._

If there's one thing any good soldier and military leader must know, it's that the absolute number one worst thing anyone could do is underestimate their opponent. From the mightiest Sangheili warrior to the innocent looking Insurrectionist child no younger than fourteen, Six didn't hesitate because anyone could kill no matter how sloppy or how professional one might be.

It's happened before in Earth's history. Such as Operation Barbarossa during World War Two, when Hitler's concept of Aryan superiority clouded his judgement into underestimating the Soviet Union and losing well over three million men. It happened during the battle of Thermopylae when Xerxes deemed the greek defense inadequate but instead won the battle with tens of thousands of his own casualties rather than the unrealistically low number the Persians estimated.

Six has seen the Covenant lose the occasional battle over arrogance enough times to know that overconfidence is abysmal on the battlefield.

"Sigma, any new missions we could be expecting?" questioned the Spartan inquisitively as he observed the massive hangar around him.

"No Six, no new missions." Six frowned under his helmet, lips turning downward by only a millimeter.

The AI continued unperturbed. "And no you big lug, no training for you. You need nourishment, sleep, and a few days in the medbay." scolded Sigma like a mother would to her child.

The hyper lethal vector almost smiled at the thought of Sigma behaving like a mother figure to the Spartan.

Almost.

"I'm fine Sigma, no need for any of that-"

"That's rubbish and you know it Six. You've been training for hours in between missions with minimal sleep and nutrition!" exclaimed the AI.

"I believe that I should report to the S-deck to receive my new armor, then perhaps I can rest." said Six, coming to a full compromise if only to get the AI to stop talking.

"Fine, go get your new toy to protect your primitive physical body." Six only grunted, satisfied with Sigma's calmer tone.

Six made for the nearest door across the hangar, side stepping a few awestruck, and partially terrified marines. A lot of the UNSC personnel present only gawked at the Spartan incredulously due to his unique appearance that he 'acquired' on his many missions.

The lone wolf's armor was coated with Covenant blood. Blue, red, purple and orange it did not matter. The Spartan's armor looked like a magnificent world renowned artistic masterpiece of death and destruction.

It was beautiful.

Almost as beautiful as the dozens of massive dents and scorch marks that cascaded the Spartan's armoured body like a swarm of mosquitoes. The injuries the Spartan has acquired are enough to kill a fit human a dozen times over. Yet the superhuman hardly felt anything.

Six finally arrived at the S-deck and as expected, it was alive with Spartan IVs fitting themselves with their armor.

"I've placed a waypoint on your HUD that will lead you to your new toy," pointed out the AI.

Six made his way past the smaller super soldiers until he spotted the large machine and technician team that would replace his damaged suit… this has been the second time after Jun's subsequent death.

 _Let's get this over with._

The half ton super soldier moved almost completely silently, before adding more weight to his steps in order to get the attention of the otherwise oblivious technicians. They looked at the Spartan as if he grew another limb right before their very eyes before the man in the middle spoke.

"Spartan B312, here for the replacement I presume?" Six only nodded. "Well then you know the drill, suit's ready for you."

One of the technicians returned to a small console and began typing several commands into the terminal as Six readied himself to be stripped of his armor.

The machines worked fast, much faster than Six ever could and within seconds, the heavy armour and titanium weave was on the ground at the Spartan's feet. Seconds later, the machine began replacing the damaged armor with parts fresh out of production.

Six felt the smooth gel layer mould to accommodate for the shape of his body before hardening. His HUD turned on and revealed all of the information he needed to know about his armor.

Gel pressure, armor integrity, power servo functionality, AI combat and control interface suite, and dozens of other pieces of information. With a series of blinks, all of the information was replaced by his motion tracker and shield strength indicator.

Six heard the familiar sound of his shield charging, for a few seconds he was enveloped in a brilliant gold barrier that eventually disappeared once the shield bar was completely full.

Six stepped down from the machine, his armored boots making a heavy 'clang' noise from the small twelve inch drop. He accepted Sigma's AI chip from one of the technicians and inserted it into his helmet.

"I like my new home already Six, some renovations are in order however. These curtains are a little too girly," joked the AI to which the lone wolf inaudibly chuckled.

"One more thing Spartan, you've been wanting this for a while I heard and the techs were more than happy to oblige," Six turned towards the man and his eyes widened slightly.

The technician held in his very two hands the kukri of Spartan A239, Emile.

Six took a step forward and was met by the slowly advancing technician who held the now intact blade out to the Spartan as if it were a peace offering.

Six gently took the blade and unsheathed the monomolecular knife. The fourteen inch blade was a sight to behold, it looked almost factory new. He stared into the blade as if he was trying to read it, before his focus was nothing but the blade.

* * *

 _The swarm never ceased, never tired, and had an infinite persistence with a ruthlessness beyond comprehension. For everyone of them that was shot down, three more appeared to replace it._

 _The mass driver unleashed a mighty crack and sent a two hundred pound tungsten slug spiralling into a phantom at fifty kilometers per second. The round pierced clean through the ship that has suddenly began a new existence as thousands of shards of metal._

 _The crack of Six's rifle brought the unholy vengeance of Noble Team down upon the foe that called itself honourable. Bodies piled up, ranks were broken, yet the living outnumbered the dead in what was now no longer a battle, but rather a test to see how much the super human soldiers could kill._

 _The objective had to be secured, no matter the cost. Humanity must survive._

 _A pelican suddenly arrived in a hurry, the door opened and revealed Captain Keyes and a squad of marines._

 _The Spartan blurred towards the captain and placed the objective in the man's hands._

" _Package secured sir."_

" _Well done Spartan, now get on the pelican, the Autumn can't stay here for long."_

 _Six's head snapped to the left and looked up. The unmistakable bulbous shape of a CCS Battlecruiser could be seen lazily making its way towards the Pillar Of Autumn._

' _Shit.'_

" _Emile, cruiser incoming, you need to take it out or else we're not getting out of here." Ordered the captain in a powerful authoritative voice._

" _Consider it done sir." came the reply from Emile's deep voice._

 _It wouldn't matter._

 _A phantom ascended up from the cover of the canyon below the pelican and made a beeline straight for the mass driver._

 _A pair of fearsome zealots dropped down from the dropship._

" _Emile check your six!" warned the hyper lethal as he narrowly avoided a hailstorm of plasma fire from the phantom's portside plasma cannon._

 _The hyper lethal recovered just in time to see Emile standing proudly over one of the zealots, ending its life with a faceful of buckshot at point blank range._

 _To Six's horror, the second zealot appeared from behind the Spartan and impaled him with its energy sword, lifting the Spartan up with one arm by the neck in an impressive display of strength._

' _No.'_

 _Emile brandished his kukri and attempted to stab the zealot only to have the blade cut in half by the sword._

 _Instead the skull face Spartan plunged the remainder of the blade into the forearm of the large opponent. It had its desired effect as the alien dropped the super soldier._

" _I'M READY, HOW BOUT YOU?" Emile's voice was one of defiance and conviction, and in one last display of defiance, he plunged the remainder of his kukri into the left eye socket of the elite before tackling him off of the mass driver._

 _Silence washed over the comms._

" _Lieutenant, we need to get the hell out of here," shouted one of the marines, pulling Six out of his stupor._

 _The Spartan already knew that there was one thing left to do._

" _Negative, I've got the gun. Goodluck captain."_

" _Goodluck to you Spartan." replied the captain in a voice laced with sorrow._

 _The lone wolf looked at the Covenant cruiser, then at the mass driver and knew that he must ensure the Autumn's escape, even at the cost of his own life._

 _The super soldier advanced with haste into certain death, without so much as a grain of fear or regret._

* * *

It took some time for Six to find the pieces of the blade. He never did get a chance to fix it since the war was at its climax.

The Spartan nodded his thanks to the technician before sheathing the blade and attaching it to his left pauldron.

While on the outside the Spartan displayed little emotion, on the inside he was beaming with joy, finally he had a memento of Noble Team besides their dog tags. With this weapon he will unleash the terror that Emile was so particularly known for by the enemy.

' _Noble Team will live as long as I breath.'_ stated the Spartan mentally, his determination all but burning at the prospect of being released upon the Covenant like a rabid dog despite two months of constant lone suicide missions.

"Someone's happy," said Sigma, cutting the Spartan off from his musing.

"This is Emile's blade," replied the Spartan leaving the whole 'he was one of my best friends from a team that I could consider family' part unsaid.

"I understand Six," started the AI before chuckling mirthfully. "You know at this rate, you'll be cracking a smile very soon," the AI chuckled again, oblivious to the fact that the otherwise stoic Spartan _was_ smiling, however small it may be.

Suddenly, Roland's voice washed over Six's private comms. "Noble Six, Captain Lasky would like to see you in the conference room asap. He needs to discuss something with you; security clearance level four." Roland suddenly cut off the comms and went quiet.

Six blinked once and then raised an eyebrow; security clearance level four concerned ship captains and above, and while being a former top notch ONI black ops hitman performing the most clandestine of operations gave the Spartan even higher security clearance, it was still odd for the good captain to share such information with him.

Regardless, the Spartan brushed the confusion aside in an instant; hesitation can get any soldier killed, and the lone wolf was prepared for anything that Lasky would tell him.

"Well, from one crisis to another." remarked the AI with what Six thought was a little bit of frustration.

"Adaptation and anticipation is part of the trade." assured the Spartan, he could almost visualize Sigma raising his 'eyebrows' at that.

Without saying another word, the titan of a man spun gracefully on his heels and made his way to the conference room, already anticipating any and all scenarios.

* * *

Sigma was more than glad that Lasky agreed with his suggestion to transfer Six over to a different ship. It wasn't any ship however, it may look like a normal Paris class heavy frigate, but it is also a testbed for the Forerunner slipspace prototype that Noble Team secured on Sanghelios. While Six may have been adamant when it came to being transferred so far away from combat, the orders came from Lasky, and Sigma knew that Six, like any other Spartan, wouldn't have disobeyed it.

From what the AI has learned, this slipspace drive is estimated to be able to allow UNSC ship to travel two thousand light years in a single day, compared to the Infinity's fifteen-hundred light years. Such an advantage would be insurmountable to humanity and is an opportunity that HIGHCOM and ONI does not want to pass up.

Standard UNSC protocol suggested that any ship that had a higher than average value had to have at least one Spartan onboard. That Spartan was Six.

Thankfully, they made it just in time for the final calculations, Six was in the bridge overseeing the whole thing, and Sigma's view from MJOLNIR was adequate.

The slipspace drive had to go through a very rigorous inspection to be deemed safe, previous experiences with Forerunner tech, namely on Requiem, have been less than healthy.

Millions of different scenarios have been drawn up by a dozen or so smart AI in the nearby orbital research facility and all of them checked green. So Sigma had no worry about possible failure.

"What's the status of the slipspace drive?" questioned a slightly young and inexperienced voice.

Captain Williams is a new figure in the UNSC navy, his combat record is higher than average, notably during the battle of Earth.

"All systems are green, ready for test number one," deadpanned the ship's dumb AI.

"Alright, commence the jump." staccatoed the captain, excited to be the man to test a device that would forever change human history.

"Affirmative, spinning up FTL drive, commencing jump in three… two… one…" there was a slight shudder. That was odd to Sigma, UNSC drives don't do that. Perhaps it took longer to build up the required energy.

Suddenly, the slipspace portal opened and a moment later, the ship found itself enveloped in the dimension of slipspace.

' _That wasn't so bad.'_ the AI sighed in relief.

"All systems nominal, estimated travel time is two hours," informed one of the crew.

Suddenly, the ship shuddered again, this time much more violently.

"What was that?" questioned the deep voice of Sigma's armoured companion.

Sigma thought about it, and disturbingly so, realized that he didn't know how to answer Six's question. They were dealing with advanced and unpredictable Forerunner technology and Sigma has never documented such a strange occurrence during slipspace.

The ship suddenly underwent a jerking motion and most of the crew fell on their feet, alarms blared loudly and panic rose throughout the bridge.

"Alert, the slipspace drive is undergoing some strange anomalies, it is malfunctioning, please remain calm while we divert specialists to remedy the situation," exclaimed a rather panic stricken young woman over the system.

Sigma's attention was diverted to the ship's status and panicked. Whatever was going on, the frigate's hull integrity was dwindling rapidly.

"Captain, the hull integrity is at seventy percent, recommend we exit slipspace," suggested Sigma urgently.

The aforementioned captain's head snapped onto the Spartan, eyes wide as dinner plates, before issuing the order. "Exit slipspace, NOW, before the ship gets ripped to pieces!"

"Affirmative," deadpanned the dumb AI. The ship shuddered again, forcing the Spartan to brace himself to prevent falling over, the non Spartan personnel were thrown all over the bridge like ragdolls, some of them hit the bulkhead with sickening cracks, and a loud explosion could be heard throughout the ship.

Sigma did a ship wide scan and figured out what was going on. "Six, the entire rear section of the ship just got ripped off, we're dead in the water without that engine, life support is fried."

' _Shit.'_ though Sigma, he could only hope that the crew was already prepping for zero oxygen.

Only… there was no crew, much to Sigma's horror. In the midst of the chaos, a lot of the crew were sucked out of the ship into the vacuum of space, the punishment that the frigate took played hell with the systems and even wiped out the dumb AI. Sigma and Noble Six are all that's left of the ship.

The AI did a quick external ship scan and realized that they were on a collision course with a planet.

"Damn, Six we are about to nose dive into a planet, I suggest you hunker down quick. Odd, the planet looks like it could support life, it looks like it is covered mostly in desert, with some vegetation. But I am reading tens of millions of life forms. Looks like oxygen won't be a problem either," Sigma sighed in relief, their chances of survival just went up substantially.

* * *

Six activated his magboots and hid behind the thick fifty centimeter bulkhead separating the bridge from the rest of the ship. Already the ship has entered the thermosphere and is rapidly approaching ground level, the atmosphere heating up the exterior to an incredibly high temperature.

"At this rate, we'll be making contact with the surface in ninety seconds," informed his only companion at the moment.

"Oh, thought you should know, I'm picking up all kinds of unknown radio chatter on the surface, once we hit the ground, I strongly suggest preparing for a possible first contact scenario," suggested the AI, in a slightly panicked voice.

Six chanced a look from behind the bulkhead and his eyes widened slightly.

A large gaping hole was torn in the bridge and every single living occupant aside from the Spartan was sucked into the unforgiving void that was space.

"Sigma, status on the rest of the crew," there was an eerie pause, the Spartan didn't like it.

"They're gone, multiple hull breaches and explosions killed the crew, and the depressurization sucked them out of the ship… we're all that's left, even the ship's AI isn't responding," Six pondered the AI's words.

Whatever went wrong, it crippled the ship, and now Sigma is picking up foreign radio frequencies. That wasn't a good sign. The Spartan formulated several first contact scenarios but knew that the most desirable outcome would be cooperation of the unknowns. Six needed to find a way back to UNSC space.

But Mike is a soldier, not a politician, and while him and his fellow Spartans were drilled through negotiation techniques and taught politics to a certain extent, such skills were useless against the Covenant so Six never needed those skills. This goes without mentioning the alien's perception of the Ship anyways. They could see it as a hostile act and attack on sight, and Six really didn't feel like taking on an entire planet on his own.

"Impact in ten seconds Six, try not to die right now," berated the AI, referring to the Spartan's almost suicidal tendencies.

The super soldier braced himself, knowing the implications of such an impact. He could be injured severely even through his MJOLNIR armor.

Suddenly, the massive sound of the ship hitting ground assaulted the Spartan's senses, luckily Sigma turned off his audio suite. A millisecond later, Six impacted the bulkhead despite having his magboots activated. He felt the air being forced from his lungs as his shields drained from the massive impact; the ship was travelling at an abnormally high velocity.

"Six are you okay!?" beckoned the AI, his voice loud enough to ring the human's ears.

"Affirmative," replied the Spartan nonchalantly, as if crashing at supersonic velocities in a ship was a normal occurrence… which it almost was.

Ignoring Sigma's aggravated grumbles, the lone wolf pushed himself off the ground, feasting his eyes upon a bulkhead that interestingly had a human shaped, Spartan sized dent in it about an inch and a half deep.

The Spartan allowed himself a smirk for a millisecond before his face went placid once more.

"Sigma what's the ship's status?" questioned the Spartan as he began to check his armor, weapons, and equipment.

Primary weapon: MA5D Individual Combat Weapon System

"Well, let's see shall we? To start, the hull integrity is at thirty seven percent," Six raised his eyebrow but otherwise said nothing.

Secondary weapon: M6H Personal Defense Weapon System.

"Primary Reactor is in fact not a reactor but rather a clump of elements from the periodic table," continued the AI cheerily. Six only rolled his eyes.

Thirteen magazines loaded with 7.62x51mm AP tungsten carbide rounds. Six magazines loaded with 12.7x40mm HEAP rounds.

"Secondary reactor is also a pool a liquid metal. Huh, off to a good start aren't we Six?" The Spartan only grunted in the affirmative.

Two M9 HEDP grenades… weapon loadout green.

"Tertiary reactor is at five percent, hope you're not afraid of the dark," Six sighed.

Armor systems green. Color code representing potential hostile survival chance… red.

"Oh and the armory at least is mostly intact, figured you'd want to go ahead and play with some of your bigger toys," rattled off the AI, as if knowing exactly what the Spartan was planning to do… or so he thought.

"No," the one worded response completely silence the AI who could only watch as the Spartan made his way to the nearest emergency staircase on the left side of the entrance to the bridge. Somehow that of all things remained intact.

"No? Well then I calculated that the chance of that answer making its way out of your mouth would be in the single digits regarding percentage," Six shrugged, not quite knowing what to say.

"Ok, what's your plan?"

"Acquire a vantage point in order to obtain a visual of possible unknowns approaching the ship, before attempting a first contact meeting inside the ship," the Spartan made his way to the top floor of the ship, the room he was currently in was mostly filled by a massive autoloader for one of the Ship's point defense turrets. 70mm shells were scattered all over the floor.

"Interesting, but what if things go south, I for once agree with you paying a visit to the armory. But I suppose it makes sense, if you have smaller weapons, it makes you look like less of a threat. Helps with negotiations," Six said nothing, knowing that the AI was catching on to his plan.

"Is the ship's sensor system functional?" asked the Spartan as he proceeded through the ship, aiming to get the rear of the vessel where the separation of the engines occured.

"They are… kind of. After that crash landing, they are next to useless in regards to long range detection, but I can detect movement at a distance of about a kilometer if that's what you're asking for," Six nodded; it wasn't much, but it was something.

Six finally made it to where the separation occurred and took in the scene before him.

The entire rear part of the ship was torn off, exposing every single nook and cranny that was in the rear of the frigate to the outside world… or at least as much as possible thanks to the dim moonlight. The Spartan was currently on the top floor of the right side of the ship if one were to be facing the posterior of the frigate from the inside.

Six assumed the prone position and crawled across what remains of whatever room this was. The room was completely empty of anything, whatever was here was sucked out once the separation occurred. He crawled five meters before stopping at the edge. Several inches of Titanium A battleplate was slightly hanging off the edge of the ship, it was still more than capable of holding the weight of a Spartan however.

From what Six could see, they obviously crash landed in a desert, the ship left a massive two kilometer long trench that was about sixty meters deep and two hundred meters wide. There was molten rock at the bottom from the crash landing that still has yet to cool down. It was a beautiful red color that stood out in the otherwise peaceful night.

The Spartan smiled slightly as he allowed the fresh night air into the confines of his armor. Powerful muscles relaxed momentarily upon perceiving the peaceful scene.

"You miss this don't you?" inquired the AI, voice laced with pity.

Six pondered the AI's words… he did miss this. While his duty must go above everything else, Six admitted that he missed the peace and quiet that nature had to offer. Here, there existed no superheated plasma, blood, guts, or cloaked enemies that would impale you with superheated death should your eyes even twitch in the wrong direction at the wrong time.

It was… strange. The peace in a city unnerved the Spartan. He wasn't used to civilian life in the slightest. Yet nature, or the inside of a warship, he could welcome. But nothing felt more familiar to the Spartan than the horrific sounds of the battlefield that would traumatize most people

But here there was no carnivorous aliens that would devour you alive at a whim or that would drag you to hell and back with your entrails spilled out for the unggoy to gnaw at. There was no death, no war… no purpose.

Six didn't expect to survive, the Spartan IIIs were expendable soldiers, and even then the lone wolf pondered why he didn't die. The purpose of a Spartan was to protect humanity from any and all threats, even at the cost of their own lives. Spartans exist for humanity… for war.

But what happens when there is no war? What would be the point for existence of the Spartans, for Six? The hyper lethal vector contemplated those thoughts.

He knew that war will never end. It is in the nature of all sentient beings to wage war, no matter how stupid or how valid that reason may be. Terrorists will always exist because no one can always agree on one thing.

Nothing is perfect.

That is why war will always exist, that is why Spartans exist.

 _Because nothing is perfect._

"Sigma, do you see anything?" asked the Spartan, electing to leave the AI's question unanswered.

There was hesitation for about half a second before the AI spoke. "Indeed, this does not bode well for us. The ship's sensors detect two hundred plus foot mobiles spread out three hundred and sixty degrees around us," Six calmly nodded at the basic information. Their QRF was adequate, that was a commendable response time. Unless the unit was already close to the crash zone.

Six suspected the latter, from what the Spartan could see, they seemed to be in the middle of nowhere. So this begs the question, why were they just moping around in the barren desert?

The Spartan pushed the thought away in an instant; it was irrelevant to his current situation, a waste. Every second wasted is a second of potential death.

"Contacts should be in visual range, distance; seven hundred meters, closing in at approximately two meters per second," notified the AI.

Six's visor zoomed in at 48x and switched to night vision in an instant, finally giving him a good look at the aliens.

They were very strange to say the least…

To start, they were human shaped and inherited the average height of a human, but that was pretty much where the similarities ended.

The most absurd feature was their four eyes, each as dark as the void of space. He couldn't tell if the eyes were moving or not. Basically, the entire eye was the pupil.

Their noses were a strange inverted triangle which is ridged vertically while still maintaining its symmetry. The bottom set of eyes seem to be set in bony sockets protruding from the corners of their faces. While the top pair are closer together just below the middle of the forehead.

Six recalled his biology lessons long ago. The common house fly has five eyes-a pair of large compound eyes and a triangle of three smaller eyes called ocelli on the "forehead" between the compound eyes. These eyes, along with the thousands of visual receptors on the compound eyes, enhance the fly's visual perception on a scale that humans cannot comprehend. If these aliens' vision is anything like that, then they have a major advantage when it comes to situational awareness, even if they lack the thousands of visual receptors like a fly.

"And here I was thinking that the Covenant had ugly species," remarked Sigma, unknowingly voicing the Spartan's thoughts.

Still, what they had in their biological makeup, they severely lacked in basic military doctrine.

They were undisciplined. That was the first thing the Spartan noticed. Unit spacing was horrendous, most of the squads were clumped together simply chatting away weapons trained on the ground rather than on the ship, while others were simply gawking at the UNSC frigate. A single crew served machine gun could effortlessly cut down dozens or a lucky mortar or grenade could shred a whole squad just as easily.

Six's face wrinkled in disgust. He's seen rebels and hell, even Unggoy that were better trained and disciplined than these fools.

 _Disgusting._

Still, they had the numbers as well as a myriad of abilities that the Spartan may be unaware of. Negotiations were definitely in order here.

The aliens for reasons unknown have forsaken the concept of protecting the head and instead have gone for sleek and shiny weapons and armor. The armor and weapons looked more advanced than most UNSC hardware, but looks can be deceiving. The shiny equipment made for poor camouflage, the moonlight reflected off of the weapons and easily gave their position away.

"Sigma, I want an update on their progress," ordered the Spartan, referring to the remainder of the force as he continued to observe the aliens.

"About fifty or so have made it inside the ship and are performing investigations. Don't worry, I've locked the armory and any operational consoles, won't be getting access unless they say please," Six only nodded.

The Spartan waited another three minutes observing the aliens as they slowly approached. The Spartan stood unmoving like a stone… and desperately trying not to cringe at the aliens' lack of discipline… the latter wasn't easy.

It was when the dozen or so aliens reach two hundred meters that the lone wolf decided to move, quickly becoming a blur as he allowed his superhuman speed to carry him all the way down to the frigate's bottom deck. It only took half a minute before the super soldier was staring down the dimly lit hallway looking out towards the pocket of natural moonlight, waiting for the unknowns to present themselves.

"Sigma?"

"All of the unknowns are in the ship, our territory, if things get ugly, then we get the advantage of trading shots on homefield," notified the AI, knowing exactly what the Spartan desired.

While Six's augmentations allows him to see in the dark, the Spartan still maintained his night vision, giving him an advantage. At least he hoped so.

The Spartan briefly wondered if the aliens themselves had some form of natural night vision, but that thought was quickly squashed when he saw the aliens finally enter the ship no more than fifty meters in front of him, and not even react to his presence.

His jet black MJOLNIR armor allowed the Spartan to blend into the darkness like a shadow. If these neutrals wished to become hostile, then death to them would be invisible, their inevitable doom will not be foreshadowed but rather occur instantaneously and without warning.

Even in a foreign and possibly hostile cqc environment, the aliens in the rear didn't even have their weapons trained in front, despite appearing to be on edge. Six was tempted to slaughter them like sheep right then and there but went against it.

After what seemed like many minutes of waiting, the creatures were fifteen meters in front of the hyper lethal vector, still not aware of his position.

Six decided to reveal himself. With slow but powerful steps, he made his presence known. The aliens gasped and gawked in a mixture of awe and terror at the massive armored behemoth that appeared out of nowhere. They collectively raised their weapons and pointed them at the Spartan but they didn't fire.

About two seconds of an intense standoff went by before Six spoke.

"You are trespassing on UNSC property, identify yourselves and state your intentions immediately," the aliens visibly jumped at Six's iron hard voice. The Spartan made sure to maintain an eerie, supernaturally calm voice. He learned long ago how much more effective that approach was rather than trying to sound menacing.

To Six's, and most definitely Sigma's utter surprise, the lead alien spoke English.

"We are part of the Batarian Hegemony. Our purpose here is to salvage what we can from this ship," the alien paused and suddenly became even more nervous as he continued. "We are also here to capture and imprison any survivors," Six's muscles tensed up and coiled, ready to strike like a cobra, but he didn't attack.

"This ship arrived here completely accidentally, I have no ill intention towards you. However, the means of arrival are classified as per the UNSC Security Act," rattled off the super soldier with ease, his voice almost entirely mechanical.

The alien lowered its weapon halfway, but the Spartan could tell that it was still tensed up.

"If I may ask, what exactly is this UNSC?" questioned the lead alien.

A fair question, thought the Spartan. One without a classified answer.

"The UNSC, or United Nations Space Command, is the military, exploratory, and scientific agency of the human race," the various expressions from the aliens showed confusion and disbelief. This led the Spartan to question if he did something wrong.

"Humanity? But I thought that that job belonged to the System's Alliance," said the alien.

Now it was Six's turn to be floored. Systems Alliance? Did they somehow land in the future? Or even in an alternate universe? Perhaps there is a splinter group of humans that broke off during the war that the Spartan wasn't aware of. The first two scenarios almost seemed a possibility given the nature of the technology that the UNSC was dealing with. The Spartan pushed those thoughts away for now, knowing that Sigma was already probably drawing up a hundred or so theories on their current predicament.

"What is the name of your race?" inquired the Spartan.

Again, the alien had a look of shock on its face. "You don't know our race? Every human does. Have you been living under a rock or something? Well, to answer your question, we are the Batarians," the lone wolf merely nodded, satisfied with the Batarians' cooperation.

"I have no intentions but I do have a request," began the Spartan with his neutral voice. "I would ask you if I could have some assistance in repairing my ship so that I could return to UNSC space as I have no hostile intentions towards you," the alien's-correction, Batarian's face contorted into disbelief.

"You dare make such a request to the Batarian Hegemony, thinking that just because we haven't started shooting it makes us allies?!" the Batarian all but yelled out. The rest of these Batarians tensed up and raised their weapons from the halfway mark up to the super soldier's head.

Six rolled his eyes. _Should have known that this would be the outcome._

Six decided to quickly diffuse the situation, so as to avoid a gunfight.

"If you have no intentions of assisting me, then I will have to ask you to take your forces and vacate this area immediately," the lone wolf's voice was iron hard-still neutral, but contained a dangerous undercurrent.

Some of the aliens seemed to have picked up on it. Their muscles tensed even more and they began to slightly shake, barely noticeable even for the Spartan.

The alien looked at the soldier to his right, before doing the same to the one on his left, and finally settling his gaze on the hulking Spartan.

The Batarian laughed. The Spartan could still detect the nervousness and uncertainty though.

"Do you seriously think that we'll just let one worthless human order us around like that? There's over two hundred of us in your ship. No one can survive odds like that," Six prepared to reach for the assault rifle magnetically attached to his back, his arms inching closer and closer by mere millimeters.

The Spartan could hear Sigma chuckling in his helmet, the Batarians couldn't hear the AI since Sigma wasn't communicating through the armor's external speakers.

"Clearly they haven't met the Spartans," remarked the AI before chuckling once more.

"Final warning, egress immediately or lethal force will be utilized upon your troops," the Spartan's breathtaking sangfroid held firm in the face of imminent danger and impossible odds by non Spartan standards.

This only proved to anger the lead Batarian as he snarled viscously.

"Kill hi-" that was all the Spartan needed to hear.

With superhuman speed and reflexes, Mike lunged forward in a blur and slammed his half ton bulk into the group of batarians. Six could hear the sound of bones being shattered and armor warping as seven of the aliens were launched in several directions in slow motion.

A normal human would have missed the spectacle even if they _didn't_ blink…

The remaining five aliens didn't even register what happened and instead fired a few bursts at the Spartan's original position. That changed when the Spartan's assault rifle let loose several bursts of armor piercing mayhem.

Six was surprised to see a blue barrier form around one of the aliens as his bullets impacted the target's head.

To the credit of UNSC firepower, it didn't take long at all for the shield to fail, and the Spartan sent two final rounds into the alien's head. The humanoid figure fell to the ground like a sack of potatoes.

Finally, the survivors spun around and took aim at the massive human, their countenances masked with pure terror.

Six tried to dodge the fire but realised he couldn't. Even in Spartan Time, the projectiles hit instantly. Yet surprisingly enough, the Spartan saw that his shields decreased even less than if someone were to shoot him with an MA5D.

The lone wolf fired again and shot down three more aliens in a similar manner to the first before the rifle's magazine ran dry.

In a motion far to quick for the normal eye to follow, the hyper lethal vector withdrew his magnum and fired a trio of rounds into the final alien's head.

The first two rounds were stopped dead by the barrier before clattering to the ground. But they did their job and broke the shield, allowing for the third round to do _its_ job.

The 12.7x40mm semi armor piercing round is a unique type of ammunition in service with the UNSC. Its tungsten carbide tip is filled with about a milligram of explosive. Once the round buries itself in a target, the impact activates an electric charge which triggers the miniscule explosive. The little explosion causes the round to shatter and send tungsten shrapnel all throughout the body. Like a hollow point round, but ten times worse.

The bullet pierced the alien's skull and a millisecond later, the head exploded and bone fragments, blood, and brain matter decorated the floor, walls, and ceiling in a magnificent display of UNSC firepower.

"Sigma, time since hard contact initiated?" questioned the super soldier as he reloaded his assault rifle.

"6.78 seconds. Also thought you should know, the rest of the hostiles are on full alert. Which is odd because their state of alertness occured the second the first alien's heart and brain stopped functioning,"

That was odd. Their soldiers must have some sort of device that monitors life signatures and informs nearby units if any friendlies are eliminated. That is a huge advantage. It also makes any stealth approaches futile.

Regardless, Six knew what his best course of action is, and so did his AI companion.

"Well, I'll continue to provide updates at five minute intervals. Right now, I suggest you give these trespassers a friendly, gauntleted hello and show them why it's not a good idea to mess with anything UNSC," the Spartan allowed himself a rare, half crooked smile underneath his helmet.

"With pleasure."

* * *

In the vast milky way galaxy exists an incomprehensible number of living beings and planets. They all have a purpose in existence, a niche. Commander Shepard realised long ago what his niche is. His purpose is to protect the living beings of the galaxy from the Reapers. That is also the niche of the Normandy and the rest of the crew.

Everything has a niche.

Unfortunately, the Normandy still has empty slots, roles needed to be filled by exceptional individuals.

The commander and the galaxy didn't have the time to wait for adaptive radiation to occur. Thus Shepard has endeavoured to recruit several exceptionally gifted soldiers, scientists, and mercenaries. This endeavour has lasted for two months, and the results have been quite desirable with the commander recruiting several new faces and old friends.

It was also in those two months that Shepard realised that despite the freedom he has in this galaxy, The Illusive Man is still his superior and that he must report to him as with any commanding officer. All of the conveniently placed bugs, Cerberus personnel, and of course, Miranda, has set up this elaborate dogma of 'don't fuck with me' courtesy of Cerberus's leadership.

The ex spectre was specifically reminded of this when The Illusive Man informed him of a most interesting derelict ship that has only recently crash landed on an unnamed Batarian Hegemony owned world.

The commander reviewed the information as he waited for the suicide inducingly slow elevator to bring him down from his quarters to the CIC where the rest of his team is waiting for him in the briefing room.

The ship was of an unknown design and was bristling with weapons and armor, clearly a vessel of war. The following information was bestowed upon Shepard courtesy of a Cerberus spy satellite that was conveniently placed in the orbit of said planet.

What really caught the commander's attention-and also gave him a migraine, was the fact that the vessel had not a single nanogram of eezo. It meant that the owner of the ship has discovered a new radical form of FTL travel meaning that they are not bound to the mass relays for travel.

The commander understood The Illusive Man's concern but was also concerned himself about Cerberus acquiring such technology.

Shepard's musings were cut short once the door to the briefing room opened and revealed his team all armed and armoured, just like the commander. Shepard made a point for the team to prepare themselves before the Normandy made it to their destination. They were currently orbiting the planet. Any normal ship would have been engaged on sight, but thankfully the Normandy's superb stealth systems prevented such a fate from befalling them.

The beings standing around the holotable were Grunt, Garrus, Zaeed, Kasumi, Mordin, Miranda, and Jack.

Not all of them would be going with the commander. But if there's one thing Shepard learned during his hunt for Saren, it's that knowledge is power and having everyone well informed of the present situation could be the very difference between success and failure.

Shepard looked each individual in the eyes, they returned with gazes of their own, some patient and others impatient.

"EDI, bring up a ten by ten kilometer view of the objective area," said the ex spectre, finally breaking the almost tense silence that once tainted the room like a bad odor.

" _Of Course commander,"_ deadpanned the AI's voice.

The holotable sprung to life and gave the team an elaborate view of their mission area. It was simple, displaying the mostly flat, barren desert with the occasional rolling hills.

In the center was the strange blocky vessel that they were sent to investigate. What was strange was the letters 'UNSC' painted on its side, indicating that its owners know english.

The commander was impressed with the vessel's size, it was about cruiser weight yet it had armor thicker than that of a dreadnaught, scarily so. Whether the thing had shields or not was open to debate. The massive barrel in the front of the vessel didn't help alleviate the commander's concern. Although it didn't seem like a Reaper vessel, Shepard really didn't want to deal with a new, potentially hostile alien race.

If the ship had anything to say, it's that they are no strangers to warfare, and are not afraid to show it in their aesthetics choice.

"EDI, why am I looking at only a part of the ship? It looks like something just sliced the engines clean off the vessel," it also meant that the ship was even bigger than what they were looking at.

"Unknown commander, I took the size and estimated mass of the vessel and cross referenced it with the average power to weight ratio of such a vessel. I estimate that about twenty to thirty percent of the vessel is not accounted for," deadpanned the AI, as if stating a most basic piece of knowledge.

Shepard raised his eyebrows in surprise momentarily before returning to his normal, calm expression.

"Can't have been fragmentation that's for sure, and there's not a single weapon in Citadel space that can cut through that much armor and cut a ship into pieces like that," said Garrus, his countenance one of concern, surprisingly.

"Reapers then?" questioned the commander, he noticed a certain krogan twitch ever so slightly at the mere mention of the omniscient synthetic foe.

Jacob's face became one of contemplation as Miranda spoke, "It's entirely possible, although I believe that it also might be the Collectors. We still know next to nothing about them so one could only guess," her face wrinkled up in frustration at the lack of knowledge, before settling back into impassiveness, trying its damndest to avoid the devious smirk of a certain psychopath at her expense.

"Okay that's enough, we'll get answers once we're on the ground. EDI," the AI's response was the holotable changing to show dozens of very tiny Batarians circling the vessel.

"Upon landing, the Batarians vectored a very large force to investigate the ship," said aliens entered the holographic ship on queue.

"Intel confirms that they haven't returned yet, which suggests that they were engaged with the owners of the ship."

Jacob furrowed his brows before speaking. "I don't think the owners of the ship are alive, if I'm seeing this correctly, then there's gotta be about two hundred Batarians in there. Most of the crew likely died from the impact," Shepard pondered the soldier's words for a second, before nodding to himself.

"Doesn't matter, we're here to salvage anything we can find on that vessel. Schematics, weapons, even survivors," said the commander, dismissing any possible protests from the team in one swift move.

"We'll be landing about five hundred meters East of the ship," a small green circle suddenly found purchase on the holographic map with a clear path to the portion of the ship where separation occurred.

"The rest is quite simple," began the commander, looking each individual in the eye once more as he spoke. "Once we get inside of the ship, we have to move fast and salvage what we can. Avoid contact from the Batarians and attempt to make first contact with the third party if possible. Don't shoot unless shot at. Clear?" the sentient beings within the briefing room collectively nodded in the affirmative, prompting the commander to continue.

"Great, Grunt, Garrus, Zaeed, Jack, and Jacob, you're coming with me on the ground. Everyone else will stay here and act as backup in case we find ourselves in a tough spot," Grunt and Jack chuckled darkly while the remaining team nodded again, satisfying the commander with their professionalism.

"We going in right now commander?" questioned Jacob as he clenched and unclenched his hands, probably to get rid of the pre mission jitters that all soldiers grow accustomed to.

"We are. This is unknown territory here people and I don't want to stay for extended periods of time. Just check your corners and watch each other's backs and I'll be satisfied once we all get back to the Normandy in one piece," assured the commander with a warm smile.

Shepard led the team out of the briefing room and through the armory. The commander couldn't help but admire the care that Jacob put into the armory's organization. Every weapon class was organized and put together. Assault rifles with assault rifles and snipers with snipers. The armory was tainted with an almost supernatural tidiness.

His thoughts were cut short as the door leading out of the armory opened and exposed them to the large, open CIC. Its occupants manned their stations and exchanged small talk that was barely audible among the sounds of computers.

The elevator to his right opened up and the crew stepped in.

To say that the elevator was cramped would have been the understatement of the century. Shepard's diaphragm was so compressed that it couldn't even relax to allow his lungs to expand in order to take in air. Such occurrences were quite common when a human gets crushed between a bulkhead and a sweaty krogan.

Shepard could hear Zaeed grumbling and muttering curses under his breath. Grunt was growling and Garrus mandibles were clenched.

Everyone hated the absurdly slow elevator, that was a life lesson to anyone that ever steps foot onto the stealth frigate.

After what felt like an eternity of bad stenches and no oxygen, the elevator finally ceased its operation and opened its hated maw, allowing the team to escape its insufferable grasp.

The commander sidestepped Grunt and made his way towards the kodiak.

The brick shaped vessel's door was already open for the team, and was promptly filled with sentient life. Most of the crew assumed their seats and sat down while the commander turned back around and watched the door close, leaving them within the confines of the small spacecraft.

Shepard felt adrenaline pulse through his bloodstream as the shuttle ascended and flew along its course towards their destination on the dark side of the planet. Shepard hoped that the Batarians detecting a ship as small as the kodiak won't attract their unwanted attention.

"EDI see if you can hack into the ship's systems, I want to know what we're up against," said Shepard, his voice extremely calm despite diving headfirst into an unknown situation.

"Of course commander."

The ex spectre momentarily looked over his crew.

Grunt was twitching uncontrollably, not surprising. Jack looked like she wanted to bludgeon something to dead. Jacob, was checking over his rifle, like any soldier would.

The commander looked over to Zaeed to his left, the mercenary was performing the same action as Jacob, muttering something under his breath occasionally. Garrus was simply staring at his sniper rifle.

Wait… what?

"Um Garrus, care to explain _why_ you saw fit to bring a sniper rifle into a close quarters environment? What are you gonna do with that?" questioned the commander incredulously.

The turian looked up at the commander before smirking. "Improvise."

Shepard rolled his eyes at the lame response.

It seemed that Garrus was on edge, everyone was on edge. No one was talking.

" _Commander, I have been unable to access the vessel's systems, something is preventing me from doing so,"_ deadpanned the AI.

That's odd, EDI had to be the most advanced AI in Citadel space. The prospect of her being unable to hack into the ship seemed unlikely, disturbing even. These people must have amazing security measures.

"Understood EDI, keep me posted if that changes. Otherwise, monitor our progress and let us know if the Batarians send in more reinforcements,"

" _Of course."_

Silence took up residence once more within the confines of the shuttle. It was to be expected, given the nature of the mission. But it didn't disturb or put the commander on edge any less.

"ETA thirty seconds till touchdown," drawled the Cerberus pilot whose name was classified.

"Once we get on the ground, we'll need to move fast to get out of the open. We need to make this quick, I don't intend on facing down over two hundred angry Batarians in close quarters," deadpanned the commander in an attempt to silence an retorts from a certain pair of psychopaths.

As if to emphasize the point, Shepard continued. "That means Grunt and Jack, all you have to do is follow my damn orders and no one is returning to the Normandy in a coffin," Shepard ignored the irritated grumble as he stepped into the warm night that permeated this side of the planet.

The rest of the team followed suite and formed a semi circle around the entrance of the shuttle, facing outwards towards the large ominous block. Shepard checked his heads up display whilst simultaneously sweeping his weapon across the general direction of the derelict ship, making sure to collect any visual data that only a soldier of his caliber would search for.

He found nothing. Just silence, an eerie silence that should not exist but instead be replaced by the sounds of gunfire.

Shepard felt it in his gut, a suffocating danger that he's never experienced before, not with Sovereign, not with Saren… never.

"Move up, loose line formation, I want everyone to be alert, something's off and I don't like it," growled the commander.

The team silently complied and fell into said formation, three meters of space between each team member. Shepard took the moment to observe the massive gash in the planet caused by the ship as the team moved along its right side.

While by now, it mostly would have cooled down, the ex spectre could still feel the heat even through his N7 armor.

The night was silent save for the sounds of their footsteps carrying them through the sand, their distance to their objective decreasing every second.

Suddenly, as if to spite the very definition of peace, a pair of gunshots echoed from what sounded like the top deck of the vessel.

The shots sounded and then… nothing. Just silence.

' _Last time I checked, firefights usually last longer than half a second,'_ thought the commander.

There it was again, that feeling of impossible danger. Shepard's heart rate quickened at an almost impossible rate, time slowed down slightly, the sound of the team's footsteps became less frequent, and the commander's vision became akin to that of tunnel vision.

He looked back up to where the gunshots were assumed to have occurred. He saw nothing through the pitch darkness of that particular section of the ship.

But he knew they were being watched. A dangerous predator was stalking them, taking in every single detail and moulding it into a weakness.

He didn't feel safe.

 _Gut feeling… run._

His fight or flight response now active, Shepard only did the most logical thing that he could think of.

"Everyone, double time it now! Get out of the open!" ordered the commander, his voice loud enough to be considered a yell.

Shepard noticed the confused glances but paid them no mind. He broke into a full sprint and made for the maw of the ship, as if his life depended on it… which it did.

He mentally counted the distance as his heart rate quickened still.

 _150 meters…._

 _100…_

 _50…_

Before the ex specter even registered it, the team was right at the entrance that separated sand from steel. The entire team, save for one, was gasping for breath after the sprint that would have put a normal man in a coma.

"Damn squishies," mumbled Grunt to no one in particular.

"Damn commander, next time you unexpectedly order us to go on a run like that, it'd be nice to give a heads up so that I can bring my PT gear," joked Jacob in between breaths of air.

"You didn't feel it?" questioned the commander as he took point. The vague question left an expression of confusion written all over the ex marine's face.

"Feel What?"

"That danger, gut feeling." Said Garrus. "The need to run. I've experienced it myself, With Garm… that freak of a krogan, not the runaway part mind you but danger yes. But this? I've never experienced it before."

The team continued moving through the dimly lit hallway, it was barren, five meters wide, and seeing at least ten feet in front would be a miracle in Shepard's opinion.

"That suffocating Danger, like you can't even breath, heart feels like it's gonna explode," explained the commander, almost to himself rather than to Jacob.

A throaty chuckle erupted from the proverbial mountain that was Grunt.

"Oh, grow some balls for fuck's sake. It's not that bad," staccatoed Jack, the tone of her voice not quite agreeing with her choice of words.

Shepard froze, not because of what Jack said, but because of what lied in front of them.

Shepard is no stranger to hand to hand combat. All soldiers are drilled extensively through it, preparing them for the unlikely scenario should they get caught with no weapon and in arm's reach of a hostile. Broken bones, dislocated joints, and pulverized internal organs, all injuries from hand to hand combat. Injuries that every veteran soldier is familiar with.

But the commander has never seen such grisly wounds from blunt force trauma,

There was a dozen Batarian corpses all spread out on the metal floor. Seven of them were crushed and broken as if their bones were toothpicks. Their corpses were thrown around the hallway as if they were nothing but ragdolls.

That was an unsettling thought.

Four of them had two large holes in each of their heads. Obviously the cause of death. The last one.. well… Shepard didn't exactly _know_ what happened to him, only that his head was instead several pieces of bone and brain matter scattered all over the place.

But what really made the veteran soldier raise an eyebrow was the apparent presence of a few dozen bullet casings.

 _Bullets?_

Bullets became obsolete a long time ago ever since the utilization of element zero. Sure, bullets are hundreds of times heavier than the tiny sand grain sized pieces of metal fired out of an eezo weapon. But eezo based weapons allowing those puny projectiles to be propelled at a very small percentage of the speed of light itself.

Not only is bullet drop or leading targets no longer a problem, but the amount of damage eezo weapons output is significantly higher.

Apparently these bullet weapons can chew through Batarian armour and kinetic barriers like tissue paper. An incredible feat in Shepard's eyes, one that anyone would have deemed impossible.

"Bullet weapons? These Batarians were slaughtered with primitive guns from the twenty first century?" questioned Jacob. The commander momentarily turned to face the ex marine and saw a facial expression so incredulous that it looked comical. Thankfully, Shepard was able to quell the urge to laugh.

"Ugly ship, primitive weapons, and no eezo. Sounds like a period of serious decline for this new species. Maybe budget cuts," joked Garrus, prompting an eye roll from Shepard.

Zaeed chuckled, "outnumbered and outgunned, kind of reminds me of the time I got stuck between a pack of pissed off vorcha and a Krogan battlemaster with nothing but a-"

"Now's not the time Zaeed," said the commander, interrupting the now annoyed mercenary.

"Grunt, take point with me. We're up shit creek and you're paddling with me," despite the humour, Shepard's voice was deadly serious. The krogan paid that no mind and only chuckled however.

The elite team pressed further into the maw, not quite knowing if they'll get back out without a fight for their lives.

* * *

The Batarian struggled against the impossible grip that wrapped around its neck and kept the humanoid three feet above the ground.

Noble Six was displeased with the way this interrogation had gone; no useful information, just a rank and file soldier.

The super soldier tightened his grip until he heard the familiar sound of the alien's neck snapping like a twig.

The limp corpse fell to the ground and remained motionless, reminding Six of the countless Covenant and insurrection scum that met a similar fate.

"Sigma, troop strength in the frigate, and any possible reinforcements?" it didn't sound like much of a question, but it was.

" _Twenty seven remaining combatants within the vessel. Reinforcements consist of one small dropship currently landing east,"_ informed the AI not a microsecond after said information was requested by the inquisitive super soldier.

Six tore up the staircase leading from the mess hall… it was quite messy, all the way up to the open maw of the ship where he originally observed these Batarians from.

The Spartan noted two red dots on his motion tracker to his twelve O'clock… hostiles.

Without so much as a thought, the armored behemoth unsheathed the monster of a knife and rounded the corner giving him a brief glimpse of the outside world and two terrified Batarians standing side by side.

Six plunged the blade violently into the trachea of one and watched the blade come out the back of the neck. The second alien opened fire. But the deceivingly fast human moved so quickly that the creature only managed to fire off two shots before it became a unicorn-the knife being its horn of course.

The shield hardly flared from the damage. Six crouched low and his visor zoomed in at 32x.

The Spartan's eyebrows raised in surprise.

There were six individuals moving at a moderate speed towards the ship. Spaced out perfectly and weapons trained on every inch of the visible frigate. At this range they had no hope of seeing the Spartan. Utilizing his active camouflage would be a complete waste.

But their appearance as a special forces unit wasn't what shocked the Spartan.

It was the species that this squad was composed of.

There were two aliens that he has never seen before.

The first one was a huge bipedal creature that looked like a perfect mix between an unggoy and a jiralhanae. If it was anything like the large ape like creatures that the Spartan was familiar with, then it would be very difficult to engage this opponent in hand to hand combat. Overcoming its durability and strength would be the hardest part.

The Spartan deduced that using his speed and reflexes would be the best course of action when dealing with the large opponent.

Its large size would make the creature quite sluggish and while most people from his universe could make the pointed argument that jiralhanae, despite their terrifying size, could still utilize bursts of speed capable of even surprising the most battle hardened ODSTs, Six knew that Spartans could easily run circles around the apes speed wise. But even then, a jiralhanae made this beast look like a pathetic runt in comparison. Still, the Spartan wasn't going to underestimate these newcomers.

Shifting his focus to the right onto the other alien, Six was slightly startled to see that this creature looked similar to that of a sangheili.

While sangheili were more reptilian, this alien appeared more avian in nature, like a jackal. Still, any human would recognize the similarities.

It had crest horns and what appeared to be a metallic carapace, essentially it looked like a natural exoskeleton akin to that of a beetle for example.

Its mandibles were clenched tightly as it allowed its head to be placed on a swivel, scanning every single piece of land in front of them.

If Six had to guess, the clenched mandibles were signs of agitation or nervousness. His experience with the sangheili led him to that conclusion.

But even that wasn't the reason for the Spartan's surprise.

It was the other four individuals that really made the Spartan think twice about where the hell that slipspace drive took them.

They were human.

Four human soldiers mixed in with these aliens.

The first one was one of the most scarred non Spartans that Six has ever seen. It showed an immense amount of experience. His age helped support that claim. His right eye appeared to be fake. That could be an advantage for the Spartan, his situational awareness could be his downfall. The man didn't wear a helmet but his body armor cover the rest of him completely. It was quite bulky and he had a very large pauldron on his right shoulder.

A dangerous combatant, one who could likely rival a battle hardened ODST.

The next human reminded Six a bit more of a soldier. His black and white armor seemed very light. But it would allow him to be more maneuverable. He held a fairly stoic expression. But the Spartan could detect the faintest trace of nervousness. The way he moved was well calculated. His weapon swept back and forth across the ship and his eyes were laser focused.

The third combatant was an odd one indeed.

Female, bald, no armor to speak of. She only wore the basic undergarments that any women would wear and a leather jacket that only came down to the middle of her stomach.

That goes without mentioning the blanket of tattoos on her skin.

The women looked extremely agitated. That was good. Too much anger led to clumsiness and frequent mistakes.

In the eyes of any normal soldier, she was a burden. But to the Spartan, it was just another unknown variable that could result in complications.

The last soldier was truly unique.

He looked like their leader, and rightfully so. He was covered head to toe in black streamlined armor with red and white stripes on the right arm and on top of the helmet. On the chest, 'N7' was written on it.

 _Special Forces unit?_

Had to be. But Six has never heard of such a unit. Nor has humanity ever used such an interesting amor configuration.

The armor looked far more advanced than ODST armor. But if the armor was anything like the Batarians' armor, then it probably relies more on shields than the actual armor. Meaning ODST suits were tougher.

The way this man moved showed experience. He appeared calm on the outside. Every movement was slow, deliberate, and calculated.

This individual was likely the most dangerous of this group of newcomers.

Six's visor zoomed out back to normal.

"Sigma, is this new party affiliated with these Batarians?" asked the Spartan, still thinking about those humans that he saw.

"I doubt it, they were flying low to the ground, as if they were trying to avoid detection. Maybe we can make some new friends Six, what do you think?"

The Spartan thought about it for a moment, which wasn't long at all, being a hyper intelligent super soldier.

"I'll eliminate the Batarians, and confront the group. If they fire first or show signs of obvious hostility then I will respond accordingly," stated the Spartan firmly as he began to hunt the remaining Batarians that have been living a doomed existence ever since stepping foot on this vessel.

Six retreated deeper into the darkness. A lone wolf waiting to be brought to the light, and given a new mission.

* * *

Not many things can unnerve commander Shepard. Being a veteran of the Skyllian Blitz and the man that conquered a Reaper while being constantly chased by ruthless mercenaries and killers tend to have that kind of effect on people.

One could say that Shepard knew no fear. But fear is natural, it's human, and Shepard is human after all.

The scene that Shepard laid his eyes upon in this vessel's mess hall would unnerve anyone save for a krogan succumbing to blood rage.

The veteran is no stranger to troops getting massacred. But he has never seen a fight _this_ one sided before. There had to be at the minimum three dozen batarian corpses littering the mess hall yet not a single casualty from the owners of this ship.

The batarians were slaughtered with a mixture of machine like efficiency and ruthless brutality. Some were riddled with bullet holes while others were crushed or torn limb from limb. Some sported nasty gashes from what Shepard could only assume was some kind of combat knife.

 _What could have done this?_

"Hell if I know Shepard, all I know is that these bastards are damn good at this cloak and dagger bullshit," growled Zaeed prompting Shepard to double check and make sure Zaeed didn't somehow read his mind.

No Zaeed couldn't, Shepard was thinking out loud. He used to do that a lot when he's nervous.

"No signs of the enemy taking casualties, they wouldn't have the time to drag their dead elsewhere anyways, not when under attack like this," said Jacob.

Shepard was glad that his helmet covered his eyes rolling from the soldier. Having people pointing out the obvious in a situation as dangerous as this tends to annoy most people.

"Yeah something tells me that our little four-eyed friends didn't have much of a good day," Shepard couldn't help but smirk darkly at Garrus's statement; their day might end up just like these Batarians if they aren't careful enough with how they proceed.

"Right, what's the plan?" questioned Zaeed.

"Plan stays the same, salvage what we can, and if we make contact with the unknowns, we need to negotiate not try to kill. I'm not exactly comfortable having to deal with whatever so thoroughly killed these guys,"

 _Now what would be a good place to start looking… ah, the cargo bay perhaps._

"Follow me," they did so and eerie silence returned to haunt them as they slowly moved down the dark hallways of this ghost ship. They didn't have the time to look through the entire ship, it was just too massive for a six person team to sift through.

But if this ship design wasn't anything different than what the commander was familiar with, then the cargo bay should be at the bottom of the vessel; their floor.

A minute of walking through a potential death trap passed. It felt like an eternity given the situation.

The eerie silence, without warning, was gone when a torrent of somewhat distant automatic fire was heard, followed by more guns. Shepard's heart jumped to his throat as his pace quickened and he rounded a corner on the right leading to a heavily armored door.

"Gunfire came through that door. Shepard are you sure about this? Spirits knows what we'll find behind that door," said Garrus in a concerned voice.

"Who fucking cares? I wanna kill something!" half yelled half whispered Jack.

"We're going in, but we are not shooting unless fired upon," exasperated the commander.

To Shepard's surprise, the door opened once they were close enough to it, it was amazing how sturdy this ship truly was.

Past the door was what Shepard would have assumed would be a very large room. Unfortunately the lack of light made determining the size an impossible task. There were several crates littering the floor. Part of the room was lit up by one of the ceiling lights, but that was the only light in the room.

In the center of the lit portion lied three limp Batarians.

"Move in… slowly," growled Shepard.

The team moved in and sweeped the area with their weapons before forming a loose semi circle around the corpses. The corpses all had expressions that looked petrified. Each corpse had a large gash on its throat, blood was still pooling on the ground, indicating that the kills were fresh.

Suddenly, a powerful, commanding voice was heard from within the impossible darkness.

"Drop your weapons, put your hands on your heads and identify yourselves," the voice was cold, commanding, and the supernatural calmness in it sent an unconscious shiver down the ex spectre's spine.

That strange feeling of fear returned, and the commander felt as if he was in an endless cavern. The powerful voice echoed over and over again in his head threatening to drive anyone else insane until they were a quivering pile of petrified flesh.

The commander managed to gain his composure and reply. "I'd like you to identify yourself first since your position is advantageous as opposed to ours, and I'd appreciate it if you could give me the whereabouts of the Batarians on this ship," the commander's voice was laced with as much confidence as he could muster, but the veteran soldier may as well have been threatening a bulkhead for all the good it did.

"Any and all information pertaining to the whereabouts of all UNSC assets is strictly classified upon first contact scenario. All Batarian forces within the ship are accounted for," Shepard winced slightly at how robotic the response was. Was the unseen voice synthetic?

"What is their status?" interrogated the commander, still trying to peel back the darkness to see the owner of the voice to no avail.

"Batarian forces identify as hostile, all personnel were neutralized with extreme prejudice," the commander found himself disturbed at how calmly that reply came, as if killing had no meaning to whoever that was.

 _The Hegemony is gonna be pissed._

"How many of you are on this ship?"

"I am not obligated to answer that question."

So it's gonna be like that then?

Before Shepard could ask another question, the voice continued." I will have to ask you one last time, you must provide valid identification and proceed to unarm yourselves immediately, otherwise you will be assumed hostile," the fear returned.

Before the commander opened his mouth to speak, Jack decided to apply some of her remarkable 'diplomatic' skills to lessen the tense standoff.

"Hey, FUCK YOU! You think you're hot shit hiding being the shadows? Well guess what? I WILL DESTROY YOU. Identify _this_ fuckface!" Before Shepard could even hope to stop Jack, a wave of biotics shot into the darkness and disappeared. The sound of warping metal and crates hitting the wall could be heard a second later… then silence.

Shepard glared menacingly at Jack

"Jack-" but to the commander's displeasure, he was interrupted again by what sounded like… choking?

The team spun around in the direction of the noise and froze.

Standing right at the edge of darkness, was Garrus. He was struggling with an invisible force wrapped around his neck, which proceeded to lift the heavy turian off the ground with so little effort, that Shepard simply paused in confusion and blinked a few times to make sure his eyes aren't deceiving him.

Anger gripped at the commander's heart, to see a friend at the mercy of an unseen foe that could probably kill him at a whim.

The commander shouldered his rifle but did not fire… for obvious reasons.

Without warning, Garrus became a tactical surface to surface missile as his form was launched with frightening ease right towards Grunt. The turian impacted the krogan at breakneck speeds before being knocked out cold from the impact. Grunt on the other hand wasn't fazed in the slightest.

Shepard responded in kind and blindly fired off his entire thermal clip into the darkness. The rest of the team followed suit.

There, he saw it.

A brilliant golden barrier illuminated the form of the previously invisible foe; likely its kinetic barrier. It was human shaped surprisingly… and absolutely massive. So massive in fact, that what it did next should have been physically impossible.

It moved.

It moved so fast, that the golden human shaped strobe became nothing but a faint streak of gold as it vanished from existence and materialized to the team's left. Before anyone managed to lineup their sights, the golden light vanished leaving the foe an integration of the ominous dark that claimed permanent residence within this ship.

 _What the hell is this thing?_

"Is everyone okay?" questioned the commander. He was relieved to hear everyone else respond in the affirmative.

"Garrus is still knocked out commander," pointed out Jacob. The veteran turned to see the soldier crouched over the prone turian, inspecting the marksman for any serious injuries.

"Keep an eye on him," the commander turned back around and surveyed the darkness in front of him.

Nothing.

The commander was about to give the order for the team to form up into a tighter formation away from the darkness but was cut off by warping metal and the sound of a body hitting the ground.

The commander's heart skipped a beat as he turned around to see the massive pitch black figure standing over a prone Jacob with his rifle in its right gauntlet. Said rifle was so disfigured that it looked nothing like a weapon.

Shepard opened fire but was shocked as the barrier absorbed his entire thermal clip.

Zaeed charged at the opponent firing his rifle as he pressed on closer. Such a maneuver against an opponent as resilient, strong, and fast as this one would be suicide.

"Zaeed, break off damn it!" warned the commander.

But it fell on deaf ears.

The behemoth blurred and the next moment, Zaeed was knocked back. The strike dented his chest plate and the mercenary slide across the ground eight meters away.

The commander resorted to his biotics. A warp should bypass the kinetic barrier and shred its armor.

"Jack push!" bellowed the commander as he holstered his rifle and began to build up his biotic power.

Jack responded to the order in kind. She screamed in rage and a tsunami of biotic power slammed into the humanoid. It slid back into the shadows, but its golden barrier made it visible thankfully.

Shepard looked at Jack's handiwork and his eyes widened. Whatever the hell they were engaged with it appeared to be resisting- no _overpowering_ Jack's biotics.

A human superbiotic, the most powerful human biotic _ever_ and this thing was defying belief as it began taking slow steps towards the trio, completely ignoring the shotgun blasts from Grunt's weapon.

Shepard's heart rate skyrocketed as he watched this seemingly invincible foe approach them slowly.

At the worst possible moment, Jack stopped; too tired to continue using her biotics constantly at such a high intensity.

The commander let loose his warp and watched in defeat as the humanoid blurred to the side and dodged the warp entirely.

It stepped forward and Shepard saw its visor for a second before it rushed forward towards Grunt.

It was a gold visor with an interesting hexagonal pattern covering it in its entirety.

Grunt fired at point blank range but the blast was absorbed by the shield. The commander blinked and was shocked to see a surprised Grunt without a weapon.

The krogan roared a challenge and swung his fist at the giant.

What happened next the commander will never know… for it happened too quick for any human to process.

What Shepard did manage to see and hear went as follows. The giant blurred and what came next was a dozen or so sickening 'TWACK' noises in rapid succession before the almost nine hundred pound krogan was lifted up into the air and then slammed into the ground.

He stopped moving, unconscious, at least the ex spectre hoped so.

The commander frantically shouldered his rifle and opened fire. The unrelenting barrier deflected the assault, as if to spite and belittle the very concept of eezo weaponry.

Before the commander could even began reloading the weapon, he rolled to the side, a maneuver guided by a warrior's instincts forged from some of the deadliest battles a human has ever faced.

Said instinct turned out to be true as the commander felt the air shift from the giant brushing past him. How the veteran managed to dodge such speed he will never know.

The ex spectre completed his roll and spun around to see Jack attempting, and _failing_ to hold back the opponent with her biotics.

Shepard activated his omni blade and began to move in from behind to kill the giant, knowing that Jack won't hold for long and that they were dead anyway if he didn't act.

Sometimes the aggressors are the successors in the battlefield.

Jack screamed in rage, if looks could kill, then the armored behemoth would be vapourized, along with probably everything in and around the ship.

It didn't matter.

Her biotics wore off and with a quick punch to the stomach, she was down for the count.

The commander quickened his pace into a sprint and lashed out once he was within two meters.

The commander's world exploded.

He didn't really know what happened. One moment he was confident that he would be able to impale the behemoth. But the next moment he was laying on his back with the mother of all headaches, looking at the armored behemoth no more than four meters away from him. The commander's helmet uselessly clattered to the ground in front of it.

Finally, the veteran was able to get a good look at this menace.

It was very tall, seven feet at the minimum. The armor it had equipped looked like it could deflect a direct hit from a mako. The commander's biotics felt strangely useless at that thought. Its golden visor hid its face and it looked like it was trying to peel through the commander's soul as it directed its emotionless gaze right into the ex spectre's eyes.

The armor was jet black, which explains why it was able to blend into the dark so well.

To the commander's surprise, it had weapons magnetically attached on its back and hip; a pistol and the last one was an assault rifle if he had to guess. Lastly, it had a monster of a knife attached to its left pauldron, if the super precise wounds on the Batarians had anything to say, it was that the weapon was dangerous and its wielder was well versed with it.

They all looked strangely primitive, but looks can be deceiving… those dead Batarians proved that statement.

The armored behemoth slowly reached its hand to pick up the discarded helmet, as if the slightest movement will cause enough friction to ignite the compounds in the atmosphere.

It surprised Shepard to see its massive mammoth hand wrap around the back of the helmet before lifting it back up and simply staring at the visor as if trying to read it.

It disturbed Shepard how still it was standing, like a statue.. Like a geth.

Without warning, the helmet was crushed beneath the thing's mighty gauntlet. The armored helmet crumpled like a tin can and the visor shattered. The helmet clattered to the ground, now useless.

 _So this is how it ends._

Shepard stared defiantly into that blank visor, not willing to cower beneath death's grasp, for he was once consumed by it… yet it couldn't contain him.

Yet when he stared into the visor, all he saw was his own face; broken, bloodied… and defeated.

"Identify yourself, and state your original intentions," its voice startled the commander.

Again, so monotone, it didn't tire from that pathetic excuse of a fight. It was as if the damn thing was running on pre recorded messages… it was so calm.

It took the time to curbstomp Shepard and his team just to ask the same damn question. As if the answer is more important than a utopian society, or an infinite supply of eezo.

"What's in it for you if I answer?" questioned the commander, deciding to test fate in this already dire situation.

"I am willing to let you and your team leave without any harm coming to them, you were trespassing on UNSC territory therefore you were considered hostile until proven otherwise," it spoke in a way that would make most professors jealous.

The commander pondered its words.

He looked around him and saw the rest of his team, all knocked out effortlessly. Never has the commander encountered a power that could so thoroughly defeat him and his team nevermind a single entity.

He looked back at the towering soldier and realized he had no choice. This giant could probably kill him right now before his brain could even send the necessary signals to his nerves in order to fight back.

Shepard sighed in defeat.

"Commander John Shepard, I'm currently affiliated with Cerberus, but my original affiliation was with the Systems Alliance,"

The commander watched as the being cocked its head in confusion before it spoke.

"Lieutenant Spartan B312 of the UNSC, NavSpecWep Subdivision, designation Noble Six of Noble Team, status of remaining Noble Team members is strictly classified," Shepard raised his eyebrows in surprise not quite expecting the soldier to identify himself after handing their asses to them.

' _That was quite a mouthful, and what the hell is a Spartan?'_ mused the commander.

"What is the UNSC?" asked the commander, to which the soldier again cocked his head,

"You do not know what the UNSC is?" Shepard slowly shook his head.

"The United Nations Space Command is the military, exploratory, and scientific branch of the United Earth Government," Shepard's eyes widened.

"Sorry to burst your bubble, but that sounds like what the Systems Alliance exists for," retorted the commander.

Before the soldier could reply, the commander continued.

"Look, from what I can see you are human just like me right?" the soldier nodded prompting the commander to continue. "Clearly you are displaced and stranded. Perhaps if you give me the chance to check on my team, then I could take you to my ship and get out of here. Besides, I think you pissed the Batarians off and I doubt even you could take on an entire planet of them."

"Why?" a simple, one worded question. But Shepard could detect the emotion, the confusion and surprise. It was almost impossible to detect but the commander heard it.

"You are a soldier, a damn good one at that. I won't be so ignorant as to dismiss that fact. You acted as a soldier would, eliminating anything that presented itself as a hostile. The fact that you are human is disturbing, given your apparent lack of knowledge of basically anything. Maybe I could help you get back to your people," the Spartan remained unmoving, definitely pondering the ex spectre's words.

"Think of it as an apology for my subordinate's inability to follow basic orders. I'm still grateful that you didn't kill anyone of us."

"I had no intentions of killing anyone of your team. I was attempting to disarm and subdue you for questioning," Shepard stared into that golden visor, taken aback.

It's easy for a well trained soldier to point and shoot at an opponent with the intent to kill. But to actually take the time to engage in hand to hand combat with six highly trained combatants with the intent to non lethally subdue them was something else.

This soldier is something else entirely, and Shepard intends to find out what.

"Well… thanks, now I'd appreciate it if you could allow me to check on my team. You can go ahead and take whatever you need from your ship, we have extra space in our cargo bay anyways," the soldier gave a crisp nod before typing walking through the door from where Shepard's team arrived.

Shepard looked around him, before hoisting himself to his feet and walking up to an unconscious mercenary.

 _Wonderful start to a wonderful day._

* * *

" _Never took you for the negotiating type Six, you know, minus the whole cliche 'hide in the shadows and then kick everyone's assses before revealing yourself from beneath the shadows in the typical bad guy fashion,'"_ Six snorted humorously; while the Spartan was very surprised with the commander's invitation to allow him onto his ship, the Spartan wasn't going to go easy. He will have to be prepared for anything.

This commander Shepard and his team are a force to be reckoned with. While they are no Spartans, they are exceptionally good… they shouldn't have lasted as long as they did.

Especially the commander, being able to actually dodge Six, that is commendable and worthy of the Spartan's respect.

That strange psychic like power used by the commander and the insubordinate buffoon is the most interesting capability that the Spartan has seen. Dealing with several opponents with similar capabilities may be problematic, a counter strategy will have to be developed.

"Is the ship ready for self destruct?" questioned the Spartan as he rounded a corner on the left and made his way to the armory.

" _Don't need to ask. I've rewired all of the frigate's redundant subroutines and circuits. The tertiary reactor isn't powerful enough to completely destroy the ship… but you've already seen to that,"_ Six grunted and brought up his tacpad before selecting the only local connection that his armor has on this planet, besides the ship of course.

All half dozen HAVOK tactical nuclear weapons are primed and ready for detonation on Sigma's mark. No salvage for any would be hunter gatherers.

"Sigma, get me a line to the commander," deadpanned the Spartan as he passed through the armory door and surveyed the mess.

" _Done, you can now communicate with commander Shepard and his team,"_ the process was instantaneous, UNSC smart AIs are known for getting the job done in the time it would take your eyelids to close a hundreth of the way when you blink.

"Commander, this is Noble Six, how copy over?"

There was a pause for a few seconds, probably from surprise.

" _What the… how are you communicating with me? our communication algorithms are incompatible."_

"Classified."

There was a sigh of exasperation before the commander continued. _"Is there a problem?"_

"Negative, I am simply seeking permission to bring my weapons and ammunition aboard your ship," deadpanned the Spartan, whilst loading said weapons and ammunition into several large two by two by 1 meter crates.

" _Well I'm definitely not complaining about free firepower, I'll inform my team about the situation, don't worry about them. Anyways, how much are you bringing with you?"_

Six looked around the armory, he had seven of the crates in total and lots of weapons from the armory; the biggest one on the ship, and probably the only one still intact.

The Spartan ran equations through his head. Volume, density, and so on.

"Approximately seven tons of equipment," replied the Spartan nonchalantly.

" _Seven tons… you certainly don't mess around. Ok, my ship will land at the rear of your vessel, we'll be waiting there for you,"_

"Affirmative," and with that, the Spartan cut off communications and went to work.

He loaded up dozens of UNSC and Covenant weapons, along with ammunition, power cells, and the tools needed to keep his MJOLNIR armor and weapons functional. Six even noticed a pair of spare fusion reactors for his armor, tiny devices that could power the suit for fifteen years each.

The Spartan worked fast, and it only took ten minutes to completely empty out the armory.

" _So Six, I hacked into their vessel…"_ trailed off the AI.

"Sigma-" began the Spartan in a stern tone.

" _But don't worry, I did not take control of any of their systems, and their AI doesn't know I exist. It's more advanced than a dumb AI sure. But it's very primitive in comparison to a smart AI,"_ assured Sigma.

The Spartan relaxed as he stacked six of the crates in three pairs of two.

" _Anyways, from what I'm looking at, we are definitely a ways away from the UNSC. In fact, one would go as far as saying that we could be in an alternate reality, as ridiculous as it sounds,"_

The Spartan didn't stop moving, but took in the information. Six was shocked.

"How is that possible?" questioned the Spartan as he picked up a pair of crates- all two tons of it, and effortlessly made his way to the promised location where the commander's ship would be waiting.

" _I don't know, there are many theories about the existence of alternate realities, but none have ever been proved. I've been able to access information from something called the codex, and well… it was quite useful."_

"Find anything interesting?" questioned the Spartan nonchalantly, despite the massive weight that the super soldier is carrying.

" _Indeed, the Earth date right now is 2185, and at that time, we didn't have access to FTL travel. The Systems Alliance and Cerberus do not exist in my databases, and, as you know, everything human wise exists in my databases. Those knew aliens have never been encountered by the UNSC and that psychic power is undocumented,"_ rattled off the AI with professor-like professionalism.

The Spartan remained silent still contemplating the magnitude of this revelation whilst simultaneously taking the brunt of the shock.

" _Need I say more?"_ questioned the AI, taking extra care to sound as smug as possible.

Six sighed.

"You've proved your point."

" _Yes I did."_

* * *

Garrus woke up in a state of panic. He lashed out wildly at the unseen foe, not willing to die without a fight even if his damn vision was blurry like all hell.

His right fist found purchase on someone's face, strange… it felt soft, like a human's head.

Suddenly, both of his arms were clamped to the ground, he was defenseless. The sniper waited for death to come. Hoped that it was quick and not slow and obscene.

It didn't come.

There was a voice, a very familiar voice. Though it sound like it was coming from a thousand kilometers away.

He willed his senses to return to normal, to answer to the call and to perceive its owner as he should naturally.

His eyes and ears, after what felt like an eternity, finally returned to normal and revealed to him a comically irritated Shepard, holding down both of his arms. His left cheek had a familiar red print on it.

 _Oh._

The Turian tried to stifle a laugh, but the commander's expression made it about as possible as pacifying a krogan.

The sniper barked in laughter, noticing the commander's expression changing to relief, followed by a grin.

"Good to see that you're okay," said Shepard before his piercing brown eyes hardened and his expression became serious.

"He could have killed you."

 _He?_

"Who?"

"The guy that jumped us," stated the commander matter of factly.

The Turian looked around the room and saw a grumbling Zaeed and Jacob helping a limping krogan out of the room.

 _What could injure a krogan super soldier that badly?_

"Did one guy do all of this?" asked the turian, unable to keep the shock from his voice.

"Oh he did more than that," said Shepard, shaking his head, probably recalling the events.

"Took all of us out easily, AFTER slaughtering the two hundred plus Batarians that boarded his ship,"

The turian's eyes widened.

 _Killed two hundred Batarians then took us out just as easily? Who the spirits are we dealing with?_

"Spirits Shepard, how are we alive then?"

"We shouldn't be," stated the commander sorrowfully. "But he wanted us alive, to answer questions, he let us live because of it."

"If only you could see how fast and how strong he is Garrus… it's not human, he's not human but he is, all of our skill and teamwork… useless as if everything we've trained for is meaningless," Garrus's eyes widened, he's never seen the commander so affected by an individual, even Saren.

The human part didn't surprise him, the language it spoke and other bits of information also helped support that fact.

Garrus finally stood up and looked down at the shorter human.

"Where is he now?"

"Went into the ship to grab some of his things, we're giving him a ride" the commander spoke slowly and carefully, knowing Garrus's reaction.

The turian's eyes widened.

"Shepard, you can't be serious, if he is as dangerous as you say he is, then he could probably kill everyone on the ship!"

Shepard raised both of his hands in a human gesture of 'calm'.

"Relax Garrus, he's a soldier who attacked because of Jack's stupidity, he holds no ill will towards us. We're just going to get him a ride back to his home."

The commander then leaned closer and continued in a hushed whisper.

"And if we can't, imagine how valuable he could be against the Collectors and Reapers," the turian pondered those words.

If this soldier is even half as deadly as Shepard says he is, then seeing him rip apart Collectors would definitely be 'a sight for sore eyes' to use the human saying.

"Alright Shepard you win. I just hope you're right," the commander smiled.

"Follow me, the Normandy is waiting outside with the rest of the team, we're waiting for him there."

The turian complied and followed the commander out of the room and back through the route they used to get in… past the Batarians.

Garrus grimaced; that could very well have been them, broken and ripped apart. He pushed those thoughts away though. Hopefully this soldier could make minced meat of the Collectors instead of them.

"So Shepard, what did you learn about our guest?"

"Not much, he identified himself as, and I quote, 'Lieutenant Spartan B312 of the UNSC.' I forgot what else he said, it was quite a mouthful. I also know that he is very security paranoid. Somehow he managed to get our communication algorithms to be compatible. Yet didn't elaborate on how he did it."

"B312, Spartan, UNSC? What is the UNSC?" asked Garrus.

Shepard sighed. "He said that it's the United Nations Space Command, and the way he described it, it's basically the same as the Systems Alliance. But here's the great part; he's never heard of the Systems Alliance," Garrus's mandibles opened in surprise.

"He's human and doesn't know the Systems Alliance? Was he living under a rock his whole life?"

Shepard shrugged. "No clue. A human splinter group is out of the question, humanity hasn't had access to FTL travel long enough for a splinter group to break off and end up declaring their own government, whilst being simultaneously oblivious to the Systems Alliance,"

"Maybe humans evolved on different planets without our knowledge," suggested Garrus in an attempt to answer the unanswerable question.

"Still doesn't explain why he speaks perfect english and the lack of eezo on this ship. The Prothean empire was vast, and no one has ever even attempted to find a new method of FTL travel,"

Garrus realized that only the enigma of a soldier could answer those questions, and the fact that the commander is letting a walking, breathing WMD aboard the Normandy is unsettling. But Garrus knew that the commander always does the right thing, so maybe it's not all bad.

Maybe…

"What about the term 'Spartan'? Is that some kind of spec ops?" Questioned Garrus with human like curiosity, to his irritation.

"Could be, but I have a feeling that it's something more than that," answered the commander in a mysterious voice.

"Super soldier?"

"Has to be,"

Garrus chuckled. "Makes sense."

They finally reached the gaping hole in the vessel and were met by the calm night. The Normandy was already landed about fifty meters away. Having determined that the derelict vessel no longer was a threat.

The rest of the team, save for Grunt, were guarding the entrance to the Normandy in a loose semi circle.

"Uhh, where's Grunt?" questioned the commander in his classic oblivious tone.

"Medbay, the soldier hammered the shit out of him," replied Jacob, rubbing his head occasionally from pain.

"Wait till I get my hands on that synthetic fucker, I'll tear him apart," growled Jack menacingly.

"Jack, he wiped out a company of Batarians and then handed our asses to us on a silver platter, you are not fighting him. He's an ally, understood?" said the commander sternly.

"Whatever,"

That was the psychopath's way of saying 'I understand'.

"Why did this 'Spartan' hold back on us and not on Grunt?" muttered the turian in confusion.

Maybe he panicked at the sight of the krogan, but he faced down two hundred Batarians without breaking a sweat, odds like those tend to break even the most battle hardened soldier, so that was out of the question.

"There he is," said the commander.

Garrus turned around and his eyes widened.

He couldn't exactly see the newcomer, but it was carrying two massive crates, likely the equipment that it wanted to bring onboard.

" _Damn he's a huge one commander, definitely not grain fed,"_ said Joker over the comms, the commander rolled his eyes while Garrus smirked, the human pilot always knew how to make the worst situations seem not as bad as they actually are.

As the soldier got closer Garrus could feel and hear the footsteps of this huge soldier.

 _Spirits, how much does him and the crates weigh?_

It kept approaching until it was no less than four meters away in front of the awestruck turian.

He gently placed the heavy crates on the ground.

The sniper finally saw the supernaturally deadly enigma. Its armor, weapons, and massive bulk. It looked like it could rip a geth prime to shreds.

The golden visor was unnerving; impossible to see the face, that emotionless visor seemed to peer into his soul and read it like a book. Learning the turian inside and out, figuring out how he ticks as the seconds go by.

Garrus started to feel a lot more uncomfortable in the presence of this 'Spartan'.

"Is that everything?" the commander asked, Garrus looked to both sides and saw the rest of the team clutching their weapons, they were tense and ill at ease… Garrus didn't blame them.

"Negative, there are five more crates that I would like to retrieve, unless you have any form of heavy equipment to move the crates, I will have to carry them inside. Each crate weighs one ton," it spoke in an iron hard, monotone voice that seemed to thrum inside the turian's chest.

The turian almost forgot what the supposed human just said.

 _Spirits! A ton? That means he was caring two tons without even breaking a sweat!_

So the human was strong… impossibly strong. Who knows what that armor could do. Still, that human shouldn't be able to carry armor as heavy looking as that. Augmentations? Maybe but to what extent? Augmentations needed to perform feats like this are definitely impossible with modern technology.

"One ton? Maybe if Jack and I use our biotics we can move some of the crates, but yeah, I feel like most of this will be up to you," the giant cocked its head for a split second, as if something confused it, before nodding in satisfaction.

" _Yeah, guys, sorry to break up the meet and greet, but we don't have much time. If the annoying computerized afterthought isn't lying, then we only have twenty minutes before the four eyed freaks get here,"_ notified Joker with a hint of exasperation.

Garrus frowned, the Batarians will definitely be coming in force if they suspect that their force has been killed, which nine times out of ten, they definitely think that way. In fact, one could say ten times out of ten if the dead man switches were taken into account.

 _Damn._

"Understood Joker, you got that right?" the giant nodded. "Okay how long will it take for you to get the rest of the crates here?

"Eight minutes if I double time it,"

"Alright then, get going," the giant nodded. It spun around and then to Garrus's astonishment propelled itself at a nightmarish speed back into the confines of the ship. It crossed the fifty meter distance in less than two seconds.

The turian looked over to the commander to see the same countenance of astonishment.

The commander then looked over to the crates and then frowned.

Garrus smiled. "Don't think I'll be of much help here, this is _way_ to taxing for _anyone_ that doesn't have biotics,"

The human grumbled in frustration as he begrudgingly called upon his biotics.

* * *

Millions of thought processes ran through the Riemann cycling-thought matrix that made up the essential fundamentals of Sigma's programming. The processes, similar to those of the human brain without the need to support a physical body, were analyzed by the AI in nanoseconds. They were organized, compiled, and translated to the english language for the future report that his Spartan would find most interesting.

It contained all of the information for this… reality.

It still stumped the AI, and Sigma found it hard to even say that word.

Reality.

Sure theories were drawn up about the possible existence of different realities, but of course those theories were impossible to prove.

There were no recorded instances of the UNSC ever coming across different realities, Forerunner or otherwise. So as far as Sigma is concerned, him and Six are the first entities from at least the UNSC that have travelled to a different reality.

As far as returning home goes, well that was difficult. The first priority would be finding Forerunner technology which might not exist here. If not, then they would have to replicate it, which is highly unlikely, almost impossible in fact since the Forerunners themselves were thousands of years more advanced than even the Covenant in their prime.

And even if they managed to accomplish that, there's no telling if they can make it back. They might end up going nowhere, or they could end up getting stuck in another insane reality, worst case scenario would probably be being reduced to elementary particles.

Sigma stopped his train of thought, that was not important at the moment, better to tackle one problem at a time rather than take them all on.

The report will have to wait, getting the ordinance on board the commander's ship was paramount.

Six has already delivered all but one of the crates, his muscles not tiring in the slightest. The commander and the woman referred to as Jack have helped bring three of the crates onboard the ship, those 'biotics' are impressive.

The ability to manipulate dark energy in order to move, throw, tear apart things, and so on…. Such things have never been conceived by the human brain.

Sigma could imagine the advantage the UNSC would have had over the Covenant had biotics existed in their reality. The ability for normal marines to tear apart elites or even the brutes.

Sigma originally was concerned about Six running into multiple biotics, but most of his concerns are unnecessary. The physical energy shields of MJOLNIR will help block biotic attacks. Even then, the starship grade heavy plating is monstrously durable, if Sigma's calculations are correct, then most biotic attacks will leave small dents in the armor at the worst.

Still, multiple biotics could prove troublesome and there's no telling what someone as powerful as Jack could do to Six's armor had she spent enough time focusing her power on the Spartan.

"Six, you better hurry up, I'm picking up hundreds of hostile signatures, those Batarians are pissed,"

" _Noted,"_ Six's voice was so calm, so serene, as always.

The Normandy, as the commander's ship is called, seems to be incredibly advanced for this galaxy's standards. It's a stealth frigate.

Sigma was tempted to laugh. By UNSC standards, it was only a prowler, and its stealth technology pales in comparison to ONI stealth ships.

Still, Sigma is grateful that this is the ship they will be riding in, considering this is probably the safest ship in the galaxy stealth wise.

More research shows that this galaxy relies heavily on element zero, which basically allows physical matter to lose or gain mass. This happens when it is subjected to an electrical current which then results in the release of dark energy.

But from what Sigma can see, this technology, while interesting, is extremely limiting. Ship size seems to be limited to only a kilometer due to larger ships needing more eezo. FTL travel is also limited.

The FTL drives of most of these ships allow them to travel twelve lightyears a day, which is faster than pre war UNSC ships. But post war UNSC ships can cover hundreds of light years in a day. Granted the mass relays allow near instantaneous travel from one relay to another.

Still, the network is limited, very limited. Any person with half a brain would take slipspace over the mass relays simply because with slipspace, a ship could be anywhere at anytime and still travel at a consistently fast speed.

What is most interesting is that the original races of the citadel have been technologically stagnant for thousands of years. No major breakthroughs have been made to replace the limitations of eezo or anything like that.

" _Now why is that?"_ Mused Sigma as the logic section of his programming set out to find a viable answer.

Nothing.

There _is_ no logical reason to remain stagnant for this long, something just doesn't add up.

Sigma decided to research that topic later, there are more important things at stake.

Sigma tapped into the Normandy's sensor suite. The Batarians are still fourteen minutes out.

Good.

Plenty of time for the Normandy to leave-

-and for Sigma to detonate their nuclear farewell gift.

* * *

Six hastily jogged out of the ship and through the small distance of barren desert towards the ship.

They need to escape quickly, lest the Batarians have another trick up their sleeve that the Spartan hasn't accounted for.

" _Six, you better hurry up, I'm picking up hundreds of hostile signatures, those Batarians are pissed,"_ notified Sigma, his voice one of concentration.

"Noted."

Besides, it would be best for the ship to be as far away as possible from this place once they scuttle the frigate.

Each HAVOK nuke had a yield of thirty megatons. All six of them are armed.

That amounts to a total of one hundred and eighty megatons of pure mayhem.

Anything within a hundred kilometers will be vapourized from the heat. Further out, anything organic will either spontaneously combust or be crushed by the immense shockwave. If by some miracle anyone survives that, well they'll be exposed to at the very least two hundred decibels at a range of two hundred kilometers. If batarian ears are anything like human ears, then the loud sound will kill them.

Six spotted the commander and the bald woman attempting to move one of the crates with their 'biotics'.

The rest of the team seemed to have retreated into the ship in preparation for their escape.

The Spartan analyzed with a critical eye as the ebon energy flowed throughout their bodies and enveloped on of the last crates.

Slowly but surely it rose about two meters off of the ground, before the two humans guided it into the ship's cargo hold. The Spartan only grunted in approval and briefly wondered if he could gain access to such a power.

It seemed to be rather taxing however, judging from the two breathing rapidly and looking more drunk than sober in their less than fluid motions.

Furthermore, the Spartan's physical strength was leagues ahead of what their biotics can do. Still, they managed to move four of the two thousand pound crates, an impressive feat even with the telekinetic like power.

The commander spotted the Spartan and gave him a crisp nod while Jack glared at the Spartan as he approached.

Six ignored the pathetic excuse for an attempt at intimidation and set the last crate he was carrying down on the remaining two crates.

Three tons, not too difficult thanks to MJOLNIR.

The Spartan squatted down and dug his fingers into the sand under the crates, before straightening his back as if he were performing a deadlift.

With an inaudible grunt, the lone wolf hefted the weight without significant strain.

He heard a quiet gasp of shock but ignored it.

The Spartan made his way up the ramp and into the spacious cargo bay.

Analyzing it with a critical eye, the armored behemoth spotted the rest of his equipment to the left all the way in the back corner.

Without saying a word, he made his way over to his gear and set the heavy baggage own with a metallic clang.

"Is that everything?" Six turned around and saw a partially tired commander looking over his armored form incredulously.

"Affirmative, recommend we egress immediately," the commander was startled at hearing Six's voice, for reasons the super soldier did not know.

"Joker get us out of here immediately!" the ship shuddered in response as it gained altitude.

Suddenly, Sigma's voice could be heard through the Spartan's internal speakers. _"Just hacked into the ship's external video feed, sending visuals now,"_

In the top right corner of his HUD was the frigate, it was rapidly diminishing in size as the stealth prowler sped away from the planet.

Without warning, the ship and the surrounding area was replaced by a miniature sun that would have blinded the Spartan through his visor if he was on the ground and bore witness to the destruction.

Seconds later, a shockwave impacted the ship and it shuddered, shocking the commander and Jack.

" _Detecting a significant spike in thermal energy and radioisotopes, nuclear fission in origin, estimated magnitude of one hundred and eighty megatonnes,"_ deadpanned a female voice that Six deduced was from the ship's AI.

The commander looked to be shocked, before his expression hardened and he glared into Six's visor.

"What the hell, do you know what you just did?" the man's voice was tinged with anger.

"I scuttled the ship in accordance with the UNSC Emergency Priority Order 098831A-1. Any and all UNSC equipment or databases unretrievable by friendly forces must be destroyed with extreme prejudice in order to prevent capture of classified material and technology."

The commander remained silent and stared at the Spartan while the bald woman's eyes widened. They then hardened and her countenance became on of anger before she retreated out of the cargo bay.

"Well, you just pissed off the Batarian Hegemony, and I honestly won't be surprised if half their fleet will be vectored against us," the commander said sternly.

Six sighed internally, he had a feeling it would come to this.

"Commander, the ship's sensors still had jamming capability. They would not have been able to detect your ship. Even if they succeeded in doing so, all witnesses are neutralized because of the nuclear detonation. At worst, they'd be keen on vectoring patrol ship's to hunt down a target without any form of description" the commander's face softened.

He looked at the visor thoughtfully, as if he was trying to contemplate something.

"Okay fine, you've proved your point," the man smiled prompting the Spartan to raise his eyebrows beneath his helmet in question.

"We've still got some things to discuss however, I'd appreciate it if you followed me to the conference room. I'll be waiting there for you anyways. You can take the time to check over what you brought onboard make sure it's all working. EDI, the ship's AI, will tell you where to go," the Spartan nodded.

"Understood commander, I will be with you momentarily," Shepard half smiled, half frowned, before leaving the Spartan to his tasks.

"Take as much time as you need," said Shepard before finally departing,

" _Well, well, where to start?"_ drawled a familiar voice.

* * *

The commander watched the video feed with interest as the Spartan placed the last of his weapons into one of the crates. He then attached a small device inside of the crate before closing it. The soldier placed his gauntlet on the crate, and the commander watched an electric shock course over his shields.

 _Smart._

Those devices are non lethal, but can easily incapacitate any human sized figure.

Which is why the resident Cerberus princess definitely will not attempt to steal any of the impressive weapons and equipment that the soldier brought with him, much to Shepard's relief.

From watching the soldier work, the ex spectre realized just how disciplined and professional the Spartan was. Every single part of the weapons he stripped down was aligned perfectly with even every single bullet being inspected for defects before being placed in a neat row.

Shepard how to slow down the feed in order to actually process the movements, otherwise the Spartan would be a blur to his eyes, stripping down, inspecting, and putting back together each weapon in a matter of seconds.

 _Amazing._

It still took half an hour, but it took only half an hour for the soldier to go through a company's worth of weapons and equipment, plus all of the utility tools and anything else the soldier brought onboard.

The weapons were a mixture of the 'human' weapons and the strangely shaped more alien ones.

The commander wanted to see all of them in action.

He watched the soldier march towards the elevator and promptly cut the video feed. The ex spectre was worried about how the other crew would react to seeing the Spartan even after he informed them of the newcomer.

Hopefully no hostilities would ensue, he's seen firsthand what that soldier is capable of.

" _Commander, the Spartan is in the CIC, expect him to arrive in the conference room in thirty seconds,"_ deadpanned EDI, as if the arrival of a walking WMD had no meaning to her.

"Thanks EDI," replied the commander in a confident voice.

Silence resonated throughout the room, his nervousness crept into his throat. The commander wanted to have someone else with him but he knew that the Spartan might have been adamant with going into the room unarmed, he told jacob to inform the giant of that.

Of course, the commander himself is unarmed too. He was taking a hell of a risk with this soldier. If things went south… well he'd be dead before he even knew that things went south.

The door opened and startled the commander.

He turned and laid his eyes upon the impenetrable bulk of the Spartan.

His head turned slightly left to right, analyzing every micrometer of the room before settling his gaze on the commander.

The gold visor bore deep into his soul, as if the Spartan could read out his secrets right then and there.

The Spartan then took half a dozen long strides before stopping no less than two meters in front of the commander.

Shepard's heart rate quickened.

 _Breath Shepard, Breath._

The Spartan suddenly snapped to attention and saluted the commander.

"Spartan B312 reporting as ordered sir," the commander stared incredulously, as if the Spartan grew another limb.

He remembered his military doctrine a moment later and saluted as well.

"At ease," the Spartan returned to parade rest.

The commander was tempted to smile but kept it hidden; he missed working with soldiers.

"Let me make this clear," began the commander, his voice tinged with the confidence of a motivational speaker facing down a crowd of hundreds.

"I'm not your CO Lieutenant. Your allegiance is to the UNSC. But, I want you to answer some questions for me," the commander looked up at the head and shoulders taller behemoth who merely nodded.

"Okay, let's start with something simple, where are you from?"

Without hesitation the soldier answered. "UNSC controlled space 2558."

The commander's eyes widened, he was dumbstruck.

 _Did-did he time travel back in time? Maybe, that technology seems to be more advanced than ours, despite looking more primitive._

The commander regained his composure quickly; this was no time to gawk.

"So you're from the future?"

"Negative," began the Spartan in a deadpan. "I have accessed your readily available extranet and have pointed out several major and minor inconsistencies."

The commander raised an eyebrow in question.

"Go on," encouraged the veteran.

"The UNSC has no records of any of the alien species encountered by the Systems Alliance, similarly, element zero doesn't exist thus biotics does not either. Furthermore, methods of FTL travel were not fully developed until 2291. If you wish commander, I can explain in further detail,"

The commander was shocked momentarily before shaking his head in the negative.

"That won't be necessary… so what are you suggesting."

The Spartan stared at the commander before replying. "I believe that I am from another reality."

Shepard didn't know how to respond. Such a theory was so stupid yet so increasingly possible that the commander felt ready to believe the Spartan.

"You'll have to understand that I am hesitant to believe that claim," the commander spoke slowly, unsure as to how to proceed or even react to what the soldier is telling him. Time travel made _much_ more sense in this case.

The Spartan nodded.

 _Not very social are you?_

"Okay… so do you have any proof?"

"I have video logs, however it is only depicting the Human Covenant War," the commander furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

"Come again?"

The soldier remained unmoving, likely contemplating on how to answer the commander's question.

"The Covenant are a conglomerate of eight different species of aliens, all devoted to a common religion. In this religion they believe in another race as being an omniscient race of gods that transcended to divinity due to the activation of several of their artifacts. They believe that in order to achieve this divinity, they themselves must activate these artifacts in order to transcend and walk among these beings that they worship, known as the Forerunners. They attacked in 2525 and a war broke out lasting for twenty seven years before their defeat."

The commander took in the Spartan's words like a dried up sponge would to water.

"So why did they attack humanity?"

"They believed us to be an affront to their gods and thus worthy of extermination," the commander's eyebrows shot up in surprise.

" _Extermination, I've never heard of any race doing such a thing to another in Citadel history,"_ mused the commander.

But there was something else…

Shepard noticed the Spartan trailing off, his voice growing colder and colder by the second.

He recognized it.

A cold rage threatening to cut lose.

Something happened, something that the solemn soldier does not want anyone to know. Whether it be something this 'Covenant' did or something else.

Shepard felt the room temperature go down and shivered.

The commander decided to change the topic before anything got any worse.

"So, can you show me the video log you were talking about?"

"Affirmative,"

 _Is he even human?_

The Spartan's gauntlet hovered over the holotable, before a two dimensional screen popped up.

Frozen in time was…

Hell.

A city scorched, with flames that could be seen on the horizon, strange beams of light crashing into the ground and illuminated the moonless night.

Buildings burned to nothing but piles of ashe, and a myriad of military vehicles were scattered throughout the blanket of rubble, melted or otherwise ripped to pieces.

Soldiers, civilians… children.

Ripped to pieces or… eaten.

The commander's fists clenched and his face contorted in rage at the scene.

The video played and it began with the Spartan jogging past a wreck of a tank, head on a swivel and weapon trained on his twelve O'clock.

Thunder, explosions, and gunfire could be heard in the distance like some kind of sick twisted orchestra that only lucifer would envy as the soldier continued through the living nightmare.

The commander could hear him breathing.

It was frantic, but not out of fear, more like rage, the soldier was trying to keep himself stable.

The Spartan stopped, headed snapped to the left, and the commander felt his heart shatter into a million pieces as the corpse of the mutilated child came into view.

The boy's face was half eaten and he was gutted like a trout.

The Spartan knelt over the corpse and inspected it.

A trembling gauntlet came into view, it gently closed the remaining eye of the victim. It was a very human gesture.

A low, quiet, and animalistic growl could be heard, and after a second of pondering, the commander realised that the Spartan made the primal noise, not in reality, but from the video.

Judging by that animalistic noise alone, the commander realised how young the Spartan was when these events occurred.

 _How old, seventeen, eighteen?_

Gunshots echoed in the distance and before Shepard even knew what was happening, the soldier kicked into action and sprinted at an incredible speed down the road, and up a hill.

It happened quickly and the next thing Shepard knew, the Spartan was observing a trio of soldiers hiding behind a flipped over military jeep of some kind, desperately firing at the advancing monsters.

Shepard flinched upon perceiving them. The short aliens with respirators and the slim avian ones were something to see.

But it was the other three that the commander's eyes widened in absolute shock, once perceiving their appearances.

Two of the reptilian looking creatures had four mandibles and legs similar to a qurian almost.

They were huge, a foot taller than even the Spartan if he were to hazard a guess. The two aliens were moving from cover to cover gracefully as they rushed the soldiers' position.

The commander look at the other alien and blinked.

Once.

Twice.

Then three times for good measure.

It was ape-like, nine feet tall at the minimum, with muscles that look like it could tear a mako in two.

It dwarfed the reptilian aliens.

The commander suddenly found himself grateful that the Citadel has never encountered such creatures.

The Spartan kicked into action…

Unfortunately for the commander, he couldn't really see much due to the Spartan's speed, nothing but blurry visuals and normal audio.

After about a minute of this, the Spartan was suddenly launched into the air, which shocked Shepard since Jack's biotics failed to accomplish such a feat.

The Spartan landed and then rolled back onto his feet.

A pissed off charging space monkey filled up most of the view. It hefted a huge hammer and brought it up for the killing blow.

The human rolled to the side as the hammer landed with a deafening explosion and struck with a series of punches and kicks. A shield glowed in response to the strikes.

 _A physical shield?_

If the beast was harmed, it gave no indication of it as it attempted to backhand the Spartan.

The soldier ducked and in a single motion buried his combat knife into the creature's throat.

Again… nothing. It seemed even this human could hardly injure the beast.

Shepard blanched at that prospect; how a few punches could have killed Grunt, a krogan. Yet here the Spartan isn't even holding back and the massive ape hardly gives a damn.

The superhuman rolled back and picked up a strange blue orb off the ground before throwing it at the creature.

It glowed a fluorescent blue and stuck to the creature's armor. It released an earth shattering roar before the apparent grenade exploded.

There was a flash akin to that of a flashbang. Once it cleared, Shepard simply gaped at the carnage.

The massive biped was gone, _gone._

It was reduced to ash from the peculiar explosive.

The Spartan looked around him, all of the aliens were dead, ripped to pieces.

The video then abruptly paused.

The commander looked at the Spartan in confusion.

"Would you like me to continue? Or are you satisfied?" deadpanned the soldier.

The commander thought about it. No way forged evidence could be so thoroughly planned out not with what technology exists.

"Can you take off your helmet? I want you to prove to me that you are human," said the commander in a soft voice, hoping that the giant doesn't rip his head off.

The soldier didn't move, he just stared at the ex spectre.

Finally, he slowly moved his arms up to his helmet, as if afraid that they'd pop off due to sudden movements.

With a twist and a pop, the helmet came off.

The soldier's face was interesting.

Dark hair, military buzz cut. Piercing brown eyes and a strong jawline. His skin was pale, kind of like Miranda's. There was no facial hair currently, and he had scars, lots of them.

All over his face were tiny, almost microscopic cuts and several recent bruises. The scar that stood out was a deep cut that ran from halfway down his forehead, past his left eye, and halfway down his cheek.

Even with his face exposed, it was harder to read than a book in braille in a sandstorm.

"I'm human," assured the soldier, face still wooden as he spoke.

The commander nodded, satisfied.

The soldier quickly replaced his helmet.

 _Clearly he spends a lot of time in his armor… can't say I blame him._

"Well, I don't exactly know how our technology can be able to help you get back to your reality, I guess that's an issue for another time. So tell me, what are you going to do now?" asked the commander, slowly and concisely.

"Protect humanity, as is my intended purpose," answered the soldier instantaneously.

Shepard smiled. "Well I believe you've come to the right place for that. Let me explain. A race of aliens called the collectors have been abducting entire human colonies for reasons unknown. Our goal is to basically find their home and blow it to hell. I've been spending the last two months assembling a team in order to pass through the Omega four relay where it is believed that their home is stationed," the commander explained.

The Spartan nodded, and the ex spectre continued. "We believe that they are working with the Reapers, a race of hyper advanced machines that exist to purge advanced galactic life within intervals of fifty thousand years. Not much else to explain here except that humanity is in danger and we can really use your help," this soldier needed a purpose, his goal is predetermined, now he just needs a mission.

"I will help. Commander Shepard, under my jurisdiction as a Lieutenant of the UNSC and senior ONI operative, I am putting myself under your command indefinitely, for not only is the human race at stake, but so is all intelligence in the galaxy. You now have full authority over me sir," rattled off the Spartan with ease.

Shepard's face was one of surprise, before he grinned.

"Good to have you onboard, now I just need to find you a place to stay…"

"With your permission commander, I'd like to be in the cargo bay, in close proximity with my equipment," suggested the Spartan.

"Ok… sure. Well, what's your name, I'll need something to refer to you as after all," said the commander now fully at ease with the proverbial killing machine.

"My name is classified sir, however you may refer to me as Noble Six, or simply Six if you wish," the commander raised an eyebrow, but promptly nodded.

"Okay Six, since you are a new member of the Normandy, I want you to report to the medbay, Doctor Chakwas will give you a medical examination," ordered the commander.

"Respectfully sir, I do not require a medical examination, my status is green," replied the super soldier.

The commander inwardly sighed.

 _He must be augmented, no doubt that is classified as well._

"It's just protocol Six, simple examination, anything classified will be kept a secret, you have my word," assured the commander.

Six didn't respond, he stood still, as if contemplating something and then he nodded.

"Understood sir, I'll report to the med bay," the Spartan saluted and the commander returned the gesture.

The armored behemoth spun around and marched out of the conference room, back somehow straighter than before.

Shepard smiled to himself.

 _That went better than expected._

* * *

Doctor Chakwas has seen it all.

Grevious wounds on humans, turians, asari, you name it.

Shepard being brought back from the dead, a genetically engineered krogan and a super biotic.

But never has she operated on an augmented human. At least that was what the commander told her. That their new guest was a massive heavily augmented human that could tear a krogan in two.

Truth be told, she was ecstatic to learn how this human was altered. Was it biological? Mechanical? Or both?

Whatever they were, it made the human powerful enough to almost put Grunt into a coma, and amazing feat.

Thankfully, all it took was some painkillers and minor surgery to ensure that the krogan would heal properly. Grunt was no longer in the medbay, he was deemed free to go.

Her musings were cut short due to the sound of the medbay door sliding open.

She promptly turned around and widened her eyes at the newcomer.

 _Shepard wasn't kidding when he said that he was massive._

Over seven feet tall and looked like a walking tank with that armor, Chakwas wasn't exactly expecting this.

The soldier walked forward, his boots not even making a sound as his fluid motions carried him over to the doctor.

He stopped two meters in front of her and looked down at the doctor.

"Spartan B312 reporting to the medbay as ordered ma'am," the voice was deep, powerful, and monotone.

She was taken aback at the sheer professionalism this soldier had.

"Please, call me doctor Chakwas," offered the doctor, to which the Spartan nodded.

"Well let's get this over with shall we? I'd like you to take your armor off first,"

The Soldier nodded, and set to work.

He first took off the heavy plates, a tedious task from the looks of it. He then removed the numerous layers underneath before finally taking off a strange grey skinsuit.

It was at this point that the doctor realised that the soldier was wearing no clothing underneath his suit.

She promptly turned around and allowed the man to put on the medical gown.

"Ready," she turned around and saw the human lying on the table, face placid and massive bulk still as a statue.

The doctor set to work and began examining all exterior and interior injuries.

She was truly shocked and amazed beyond words.

The injuries…

The exterior cuts,bruises, and burns are bad enough.

But the interior injuries really defied what should be possible.

Three broken ribs, several torn muscles including the achilles tendon, punctured lung, dislocated shoulder, minor skull fracture…

And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

Lacerations of all kinds have found purchase on this man's body. The list goes on.

Injuries like this are enough to kill a normal human two dozen times over, yet this man shows not a single sign of discomfort.

 _I think heavily augmented is a bit of an understatement._

A marvelous specimen this Spartan is. She could only imagine the advancements in medical procedures that his people have achieved.

This soldier was just as durable, if not, even slightly more durable than a krogan.

" _My goodness, and to think that this soldier effortlessly killed all of those Batarians and defeated Shepard and his team with those injuries!"_ the doctor thought in wonder.

"You have some serious injuries here. I won't even bother asking how all of this happened, but I'm going to have to put you under for this procedure," said the doctor, it sounded more like an order than anything else, but the Spartan didn't seem to care he only nodded.

A quiet, and compliant patient, Chakwas wished she could have more of that.

The doctor administered the required amount of sedative for human the Spartan's size and realised that it had no effect. Puzzled, Chakwas doubled the dose and only saw the Spartan's eyelids close just a bit.

She inwardly sighed and upped the levels until it was a little over the amount needed for a krogan.

The man finally fell asleep.

Chakwas began to take samples such as muscle tissue and bone. She followed that up with several other scans of the soldier's body.

She had EDI compile a medical report on her datapad.

It was a long four hours, but thanks to advanced medical technology and the human's incredible recovery time, it won't take long for the superhuman to make a full recovery.

The doctor sighed and pulled out her datapad.

She stared at it and blinked.

Her eyes widened, the doctor was dumbstruck.

Slowly, her head turned away from her datapad and towards the slumbering giant.

 _Well, well, what do we have here?_

* * *

 ***Sigh* that was tedious. I had to rewrite this chapter not once, but TWICE. Plus exams prevented me from really starting off the chapter. Also, the amount of times I had to reread this chapter is ludicrous. Anyways, I think this might be my best chapter and I hope most of you agree with that. I might get some heat for the fight between the crew and Six. But frankly I don't care, if you want to discuss it PM me. Make sure to review and stay tuned for chapter 4. I hoped you all enjoyed!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer:** Any and all characters are not my own. Neither is the Halo and Mass Effect series.

 **Rated M**

 **Chapter 4 - Best Course of Action**

* * *

Miranda was flustered, there was few things she did not know. The arrival of this Noble Six was the most unexpected occurrence probably of all time. In typical Cerberus fashion, Miranda sought to learn all there is to know about this man, his intentions, where he came from, and most importantly, his equipment.

That suit of armor had to be her main prize. If Shepard's report was accurate, then it was damn near impervious to small arms. Only high concentrations of fire is effective. It also probably augments the users physical abilities such as speed and strength.

Sadly, that's really all she knows.

Some of the unexplainable things include how the enigmatic bastard can be so stealthy in the damn thing.

Besides that, there could be a hundred other functions that the armor was capable of.

Next are the weapons.

She almost lost her emotionless facade to shock upon hearing from the commander that the Spartan uses primitive bullet weapons.

Yet these primitive weapons are apparently more powerful than eezo weapons.

That goes without mentioning the even stranger, more alien weapons he brought on board.

Wherever he came from, they must have had an unprecedented knowledge and experience with such weapons in order to surpass eezo tech with a concept thought primitive.

Finally, the damned medical report from Chakwas that has seemingly disappeared. Even EDI couldn't track the thing down.

Apparently he was heavily augmented, far beyond the fundamental understanding of any science geek in Citadel space.

But that's all she knew, the Cerberus princess plans on talking to the doctor about her findings, she was sure that the doctor had a keen memory about findings as amazing as this. Unfortunately, without the medical report, validity goes out the window with any written reports she sends to The Illusive Man regarding that particular topic.

Miranda sighed in frustration as she sent the bare bones basic report to The Illusive Man.

 _He won't be pleased._

Miranda clenched her jaws at the prospect of failing in giving The Illusive Man valuable information. But as much as her pride wills her to not admit it, it can't be helped.

The operative begrudgingly accepted that fact and stood up from her chair.

She stretched her body out to relieve the muscle tension from sitting for such a long period of time.

 _Time to have a chat with the resident interdimensional supersoldier._

Miranda left her quarters and made for the elevator.

 _Interdimensional_

She watched what little of the Spartan's proof was saved by the commander with supernatural interest.

It was chilling.

The type of war that man fought in. It seemed like genocide rather than a real war if she had to guess by the setting.

The operative actually felt a modicum of pity. No one should remain sane from experiences like that.

Which is why she is even more suspicious of the silent giant. He must have an unbreakable willpower and omniscient discipline in order to keep fighting despite being subjected to the worst hell has to offer.

 _What kind of training was instilled upon him to create a soldier like that?_

Miranda pushed those thoughts aside as the elevator door opened and allowed her access to the Spartan's domain.

Miranda blinked; that was fast.

But she supposed that time flies when the brain's curiosity gets the better of it, she didn't even acknowledge her surroundings or any sentient being for that matter.

But that didn't matter.

She was in her element, and learning more about this Spartan is paramount.

She left the elevator and spotted the Spartan ten meters in front of her.

He was sitting on a meter tall crate, fully armored, back facing her, and inspecting what looked to be a pump action shotgun.

Miranda stopped moving and simply watched the man work.

His hands blurred and the weapon was taken apart, all of its fundamental pieces were carefully placed on a white cloth on the floor.

The soldier stared at the pieces for a second before his hands blurred once more and the weapon was pieced back together.

 _Incredible._

"Can I help you ma'am?" the emotionless, iron hard voice startled her from her musings.

 _How does he know that I'm here?_

Miranda decided to introduce herself, since she's already been compromised.

"Please, no need for the formalities, I'm Miranda, the Normandy's second in command," Miranda said, voice as friendly as she willed it to go.

Suddenly, the Spartan shot up and spun around ramrod straight, saluting a split second after.

"Apologies ma'am, I was not aware of your superior rank, I'm Lieutenant Spartan B312, however, you may refer to me as Noble Six, or simply Six.

Miranda was bewildered, countenance masked with comical shock. But the sheer amount of military doctrine didn't sit well with her.

Something was off.

"I just said that there is no need for formalities aboard this ship, we don't enforce it," Miranda said, now exasperated.

The Spartan must have noticed this, as he assumed a more normal stance rather then parade rest.

Miranda calmed down slightly before continuing. "Do you have a name?"

Six's head tilted to the side before nodding.

"Well, what is it?"

"Classified," the answer was instant, monotone, robotic really, as if drilled into him a thousand times over.

 _Of course it's classified._

"Well, if you don't mind, I'll just sit here while you work and we can just converse from there," she offered, it wasn't an order, but rather a polite request. Miranda wanted to appear almost like a friend rather than a superior, helped secure classified intel.

Six simply gestured to a crate before sitting down. Miranda's curiousity willed her forward and before she knew it, her gaze was directed at the remarkable suit of armor that the soldier wore, taking in every detail.

Visor, wrist mounted computer, angling, the monstrous knife, and so on.

"So, what can you tell me about your universe?" she started off with a simple question, one that hopefully has less classified answers.

"I can't tell you much of our society, but according to my research, it appears to be fairly similar to the Systems Alliance," monotoned the Spartan.

Miranda noticed that the soldier suddenly transitioned to an Avenger assault rifle rather than one of his own weapons.

 _Smart bastard._

"That's interesting to know, what about the war you fought in?"

"Most of that information is classified under the UNSC Security Act," Miranda frowned, she wasn't expecting the soldier to withhold information so freely.

"What can you tell me about this Covenant?" if there is one thing that remains unclassified, it's information about the enemy. Knowing your enemy _is_ half the battle after all.

The Spartan slowly placed the weapon down and remained unmoving, as if he was contemplating something or troubled.

"Vast and powerful… far beyond your basic comprehension," that dark and stern tone of the man's voice sent a shiver down Miranda's spine. From what she has learned, Six is a man with little emotion, but to see him show even a grain of it means that this Covenant is something else entirely.

"Can you go into detail?" asked Miranda with a soft voice, hoping not to piss off the solemn giant.

His visor slowly turned around and bore into her.

She suddenly felt very small in this man's presence.

"Thousands of ships, if not, tens of thousands. Each ship is more than capable of destroying the Destiny Ascension, billions of troops. Far superior in every conceivable way. Their technology far surpasses UNSC fundamental understanding. That, and their ruthlessness against humanity resulted in power that could effortlessly end worlds," his voice darkened even more.

Miranda's eyes widened.

 _How is power like that possible?_

Six suddenly picked up the Avenger and began disassembling it at a slower pace than his own weapons, yet still faster than even Jacob.

"What do you think of our weapons?" the operative tried a different approach, hoping to steer away from old wounds and instead strike up a conversation that most veteran soldiers are more than willing to be apart of.

"The concept is unique, efficient. Targets are easier to engage at range, but the damage is lacking and recoil is higher than usual," Miranda raised an eyebrow at that.

 _Less damage but more recoil?_

Six must have noticed her confusion.

"The large amount of energy needed to propel even a projectile of this size to a small percentage of the speed of light would be immense. Every action has an opposite reaction which is why ship based kinetic weaponry is also quite limited when assuming that it is Element Zero based. The opposite reaction, if too high, can completely destroy a ship's superstructure, and render a weapon useless,"

Miranda's eyebrows shot up in slight surprise but the Spartan wasn't finished.

"Element Zero is the sole reason why civilization here is technologically stagnant for thousands of years, making them vulnerable to the Reapers, if these sources are correct. Furthermore, if the theory of indoctrination is correct, then element zero could be a trap developed by the Reapers in order to funnel sentient races into stagnancy within a technological field already mastered by the Reapers."

Words cannot explain Miranda's shock at what the man just said.

 _How did he learn all of this? I haven't even considered the limitations of eezo. This man is smart, too smart for my liking._

"Can you… continue?" pressed on the operative, curiosity enveloping her completely.

"Significant technological achievements have decreased drastically in frequency upon the utilization of element zero by the Systems Alliance. Faster than light travel is limited, weapons technology is limited, and so is ship size. If we assume the Reapers have mastered this form of technology, then it makes sense that they may use such a method of planting various element zero artifacts around the galaxy to prevent technological deviation and to speed up these 'harvests' that have been mentioned several times." the Spartan was intelligent, even more so than the average spook, and he was extremely observant. Miranda has heard enough regarding that trait.

Everything he said makes sense, and she was beginning to wonder if Shepard considered anyone of those points brought up by Six.

It seemed he was willing to talk about anything combat related, but anything else, he was as quiet as one could get.

"So, what makes your weapons better than ours?" questioned Miranda, hoping for something worth classifying as a valid answer.

"Classified," now this was getting ridiculous.

"Why?"

"Because UNSC and Covenant weaponry have clear advantages over element zero based weapons. I'm not giving any of that technology to a terrorist organization," Miranda realized that he was talking about Cerberus.

 _Of course he is._

Anger welled up at this man's ability to so easily insult her with a straight face and monotone voice.

"We are not a terrorist organization, we are only looking after the betterment of humanity," retorted Miranda through clenched jaws.

"The action of torturing and killing innocent civilians and the unjustified attack on the quarian flotilla is the very definition of terrorism," replied the Spartan, gaze still focused on the disassembled Avenger.

"How do you know this!?" questioned Miranda, barely able to keep the panic and shock out of her voice.

"Classified," oh, that done it.

"Enough of that classified bullshit, we saved you from those Batarians, you know that? A bit of common courtesy wouldn't hurt," Miranda growled, she was hot with rage.

"You didn't allow me onto this ship ma'am, the commander did. From what I've heard, the commander isn't very supportive of Cerberus either. With all due respect, your words are hollow,"

Miranda glared into that opaque visor, hoping to bore a hole through it and kill the man beneath it.

But she might as well have growled at a krogan for all the good it did.

Without saying a word, the operative stood up from her seat and retreated out of the cargo bay.

While the conversation was a very migraine inducing one, she did learn a few things about this Noble Six.

He is the very definition of a professional soldier who is supernaturally skilled at combat and hyper intelligent. The military doctrine instilled upon him is quite suspicious, he almost acts robotic and he shows very little emotion. He is extremely paranoid when it comes to giving out information regarding his universe. So in conclusion, the man was dangerous.

Very dangerous.

* * *

"So what the hell happened down there?" Shepard's voice was stern, and one on the verge of going into a full fledge, anger fueled yell. His patience was dwindling by the second as his deadly gaze pierced the outer facade of Jack.

The psychopath simply looked at the commander, confused, before realization seemed to hit her.

"What, the bastard was ordering me around like he owned me, like he was Cerberus, no way in hell I was gonna let that slide," retorted Jack, her voice one of exasperation.

"Doesn't matter, you almost got us killed. We're lucky that Six wanted to subdue us, otherwise everyone on the ground team would be six feet under in a pine box by now!" Jack visibly winced at the display of anger and the realism of the situation.

"Jack, I don't give a damn if he was a mercenary, a Cerberus soldier, an interdimensional supersoldier, or frosty the fucking snowman, that was a stupid move," Jack glared at Shepard, but the commander didn't flinch.

She didn't say anything, she only looked down at the floor.

"He reminds me of Cerberus," she mumbled. Shepard was surprised that she elected to say something educated at all, rather than insulting him.

"What do you mean?" Shepard's voice softened, his glare transformed into a neutral gaze of curiosity.

"A robot, indoctrinated, not like a Reaper but you get the point; brainwashed kind of. It just sounds like something Cerberus would do. Make an unstoppable killing machine that would follow orders like a robot would,"

Shepard looked at her incredulously.

 _Is she opening up about herself?_

"I just snapped on the fucker,"

Shepard grunted, before sighing. "I guess I understand in a way. But still, that doesn't justify you fucking up and nearly getting us all killed. He's human Jack, and definitely not Cerberus. He's a soldier through and through. Just trust him and he'll trust you,"

Jack stared at him, face wrinkled in disgust, before laughing. "That was one of the lamest things you ever said Shepard," the ex spectre gave her a withering glare.

"Just follow orders, that's all I want, I don't want to lose a teammate," said Shepard, not wanting to look like he was begging to the super biotic.

"Whatever," said Jack.

The commander, realizing that his presence in the psycho's domain for any longer would be fruitless, promptly left Jack alone and made his way to the elevator.

He needed to talk to a certain doctor about a certain supersoldier.

A lot of the crew has been uneasy since Six came onboard. But he couldn't blame them. The commander had the same feeling of uneasiness. Still he was reassured that the man is a soldier with the goal of protecting innocents. He put _himself_ under the the ex spectre's command. Very admirable in Shepard's eyes.

The commander briefly wondered if Miranda has attempted to strike up a conversation with the giant. Knowing her, she most definitely has, and it probably didn't go well.

Shepard chuckled as an image of Miranda's bewildered expression came into view in his mental subconscious.

It didn't take long for the commander to reach the medbay… half that time was spent waiting in the god forsaken elevator. He peered through the window and spotted the doctor at her desk, furiously working away on her datapad.

The commander gracefully entered the medbay.

No injured, He was surprised how quickly the Spartan recovered.

"Excuse me, doctor," said Shepard. The doctor turned around and smiled at the commander.

"Hello commander, here for the Spartan's medical report?" asked the doctor.

"I am, can you explain what you found?" Shepard was surprised to hear an exasperated sigh coming from the doctor.

"The medical report was miraculously deleted right after I finished up with Six," Shepard suspiciously raised an eyebrow.

"Do you think Six had something to do with it?" asked Shepard.

"No, I doubt it. He was still sleeping when it happened and his suit of armor couldn't have been the issue since Six specifically stated that he was turning off his armor in accordance to some kind of protocol or whatever," Shepard frowned.

Of course it was protocol related. The man seems to live by a myriad of military protocols and regulations that seem to dictate his way of life, at least that's what it seems like.

"Well, tell me what you remember," pressed on the commander, desperately wishing to quell his curiosity.

"What I can remember is that his bones were coated with a strange carbide ceramic material. But it doesn't look like it was surgically implanted. Again it's just amazing what this UNSC seems capable of. Anyway… I'm getting sidetracked. The bones are basically unbreakable, stronger than even krogan bones," Shepard's eyebrows shot upward, but otherwise he remained silent.

"Next, his muscles are at the minimum twice as dense and judging by the brainwaves detected, it seems as if the brain was slightly altered in order to limit the brain's ability to limit the body's physical prowess. He weighs more than twice as much as a human male his height, about four hundred and fifty pounds. This augmentation would give him monstrous strength. I'd say he could lift at least five times his body weight using only upper body strength,"

 _Five times!? That's what… 2250 pounds!? My god… that's more than a ton!_

Shepard's eyes widened into dinner plates, it's a miracle that the Spartan didn't accidentally tear anyone of his team in half during their confrontation.

"On top of that, some of the neural activity EDI has been picking up is related to reaction time. It seems that Six's reflexes are above human. But we don't know how much faster he is than normal," Shepard nodded, he's seen how fast that soldier can move.

"Lastly," the doctor began theatrically. "It seems that he's been given a kind of human growth hormone, although I don't know if that's true. He just seems so much taller than he should be," Shepard nodded, satisfied, and in awe at the same time.

"Basically, Six is the very definition of superhuman," said Chakwas.

 _Yeah, no kidding._

"Thank you doctor, this information might be very useful," assured Shepard, voice laced with gratefulness and lingering shock from the revelation.

Shepard decided that now would be a good time to visit a certain giant and inform him of a special mission that they will be partaking in.

"EDI? How long until we reach our destination?" questioned the commander, as he prepared to leave the medbay.

" _Twenty three hours commander,"_ responded the AI in her usual deadpan.

Shepard only nodded and then left the medbay.

The planet that they are heading to is a very new planet only recently acknowledged by the Alliance. Its name is E-2172.

It's a backwater planet on the fringes of the Terminus Systems. Hackett was quick to inform the commander that it is rich in pirate and Batarian activity. A full briefing will be underway two hours before they reach the planet.

Normally, he'd have EDI inform the Spartan, but Shepard felt that he should talk to the Spartan face to face.

It'd be good to get to know someone who'd be watching his back in a firefight.

After greeting some of the crew, Shepard made his way down to the cargo bay.

Time will tell if this man could be trusted or not.

* * *

Noble Six looked over the foreign weapon system with the level of interest only a Spartan can exhibit. The Spartan was impressed with some of the advantages. Ammo isn't a problem with these guns since the weapon shaves off only a sand grain sized projectile off of a block of metal. That means thousands of rounds for these weapons.

The only 'ammo' type would be the thermal clip, which temporarily counteracts the immense heat given off by the weapon before having to be switched out. So these people pretty much solved the interchangeable ammunition problem. Impressive.

Still, it lacked the power of most UNSC weapons. Yes, the velocity is incredible enough to make the tiny projectiles output massive damage. It is much more powerful than twenty fifth century weapons. But newer firearms usually fire very heavy tungsten carbide rounds at velocities that firearm experts could only dream of at the time.

Furthermore, since the rounds for element zero weapons are so small, it meant that internal damage would be at the bare minimum. It will leave tiny holes in vital organs, but modern medical techniques can easily save lives from the miniscule injuries. This goes without mentioning that since its velocity is an extremely low percentage of the speed of light the wound would be even cleaner than if the round was to be travelling slower. Again, less internal damage. A rifle round from a DMR tumbling inside someone's body would shred several organs into mush; something that looks like it'd come out of a meat processing plant.

" _Heads up Six, here comes the commander,"_ notified Sigma.

Six gently placed the parts of the weapon on the floor before facing the elevator.

It opened and the commander casually walked into the cargo bay. Six saluted and then returned to parade rest.

The commander returned the salute before speaking. "Hey Six, how are you settling in so far?"

"Good enough sir, my equipment is organized and I am well acquainted with the element zero weapons provided. I'm ready for combat," replied the Spartan matter of factly.

The commander smiled. "Good to hear. Well, I came here to let you know that we have an upcoming mission in twenty three hours and I've been wanting to bring you with me to see how you work with the team," Six's mood changed instantly.

It changed into one of joy; finally, he'd be seeing combat again. Finally, he'd be fulfilling his purpose, to protect not just humanity, but all alien races now associated with it. Spartans were built for it, and the hyper lethal vector's muscles tensed as the adrenaline coursed through his veins, threatening to unleash the demon that the Covenant and insurrectionists feared so much.

The Spartan brought it under control quickly and only nodded in acknowledgment.

"Mission objective sir?" questioned Six, his un-Spartan like excitement pushing the very human trait of curiosity to make him gather as much intel as possible.

Shepard looked confused and his eyes seemed to scan up and down the soldier's body, looking for any hints of perhaps the side effects of advanced organ and bone surgery.

"You already want to hit the battlefield don't you," it wasn't a question, just a firm statement stating the obvious. Still, Six nodded.

"Why? You still should rest, eat, and sleep. Remember, we've still got twenty three hours," Six tilted his head in confusion.

Why was the commander caring for him? He didn't need any of that. It was likely he just wasn't aware of the capabilities of a Spartan. Yes, that was it. Mike wasn't overdoing anything. The unnecessary medical attention is more than enough to ensure that Six was ready for combat.

"Fighting is my purpose commander," replied Six, that wasn't classified information, just a fact that any CO in command of a Spartan should know.

The commander looked at the Spartan incredulously, as if his armor miraculously turned pink, before just settling with furrowing his eyebrows in confusion, and, if the Spartan didn't know any better, disbelief.

"No living being lives that purpose Six," the commander sighed. "I somewhat understand that war you told me about, I can imagine everyone had to fight non stop. But this is different, don't waste your health and energy over a habit or petty reason. It's better to spend it on something worth the sacrifice,"

Six's heart skipped a beat.

Those words… they sound hauntingly similar to the words that Chief Petty Officer Mendez once told him and the other Spartans.

 _It is acceptable to spend the lives of your team if necessary. However, It is not acceptable to waste those lives._

The words didn't mean that much to Six, being a lone wolf and all. But he definitely understood the difference. Those same words were spoken to all Spartan trainees, so that they may understand the value and difficulty of sacrifice.

The fact that what Shepard said was so similar to Mendez was surprisingly quite disturbing. But Six quickly brushed it off; no point getting spooked by coincidences.

"Understood sir, when do we report for briefing?"

"Two hours before we reach our destination. Before I leave I'd like to know a bit about your combat preferences. Everyone here has a specialty and I'd like to know yours so that I know how to use you in battle," a sound request.

Six pondered those words. Every Spartan really had a specialty. But they were all well versed in pretty much anything. A Spartan can use any weapon, any vehicle, adapt to any situation, and fight in any combat environment. The lone wolf didn't have much of a specialty. He was well rounded like the Master Chief. Still, Six was exceptional at hand to hand combat, stealth, and working alone. The latter of which is impractical in this case.

The Spartan decided to be blunt instead. "Spartans are trained to be excellent at any role sir. You may assign me any role you see fit and I will perform it with every fiber of my existence," assured the Spartan with deadly determination barely noticeable by the observant commander.

Shepard raised his eyebrows in slight surprise, before smiling. "Understood, we'll assign you a role during mission briefing. Now get cleaned up, you should visit the mess hall and then get some rest," to the Spartan, it sounded almost like an order, but the lack of authority betrayed the firmness in the man's voice.

Still, the soldier in him classified it as an order and followed it without hesitation.

"Yes sir."

Shepard smiled and then left to go about his own activities.

' _He's a unique soldier Six, I'm glad that he was the one who found us on that rock,"_ chimed Sigma.

"I trust him," said Six, leaving the whole 'without classified information of course' part unsaid.

" _So do I, really, I'm surprised how friendly that commander is to you in such a short period of time. It's a rare trait and shows that he trusts you,"_ Said Sigma sincerely.

"How would Shepard react to your existence?" questioned Six absentmindedly, a majority of his thought process dedicated to the future mission.

" _I don't think that's a good idea at the moment Six. This galaxy really hates AIs and there's laws that prohibit their existence. I do not believe the crew will react positively to my existence,"_ replied Sigma.

Six knew why revealing Sigma is not a good idea. Even without their AI phobia, the Spartan still would not reveal Sigma to the crew. He is far too valuable of an asset, and dare he say it, a good friend too.

"Understood," replied the Spartan.

" _So, mess hall?"_

"Not right now,"

Six turned around and began putting the disassembled rifle back together. It took him seven seconds to do so, which is painstakingly slow by Spartan standards, but still faster than the first time he's taken it apart.

It means that Six is learning the firearm and getting properly acquainted with its inner workings, a good sign.

The best soldier is always the most well acquainted with his gear. The Spartan remembered the countless hours him and the other Spartans spent disassembling and putting back together weapons under Mendez's watch.

Every slip up resulted in a nice tap with the stun baton, followed by a severe verbal beatdown from Mendez. Six inaudibly chuckled remembering very vividly the pain from the electricity lancing through his body.

He enjoyed the pain, embraced it and allowed it to push his body to the extreme. After all, pain is weakness leaving the body is it not?

The lone wolf placed the new weapons on one of the UNSC crates, having no other place to store them currently, and thought for a second. He wondered where Mendez went, the man was as hard as steel and could stare down horrors that would give most men heart attacks in an instant. He was a father figure to the Spartan, while Kurt-051 was like an older brother.

He missed them.

" _Hey Six, I don't know about you, but the rations aren't going to eat themselves,"_ chimed Sigma.

The super soldier only grunted in response before heading to the elevator.

As he waited patiently for his ascent to be complete, Mike couldn't help but to let his mind wonder. He had to think. About what though? The mission? He didn't know much about that.

The enemies capabilities? Well he was well acquainted with the basics. He knew from Sigma's report that the standard personal shield used in this galaxy were kinetic barriers. Similar to his shields, not the energy shields but augmented UNSC concepts brought to life thanks to captured Covenant kig-yar shield gauntlets. His shields can take a lot of projectile fire, but not as much plasma. These people relied heavily on only kinetic barriers, which aren't that impressive on average.

Six pondered how to defeat the system easier. Well… heat and radiation don't impact with kinetic energy...

Wait, that's it. Heat.

Plasma weapons release an absurd amount of heat. Despite how much slower the plasma projectiles move, they will still activate the kinetic barrier but that's not the point. It won't block the excess heat, and plasma only needs to nick the target to turn the armor into a fine liquid.

Six might bring a plasma weapon for a field test on the upcoming mission.

Suddenly, the elevator opened, allowing the Spartan into the living quarters. Like most of the ship, it was very spacious and, in the Spartan's eyes, luxurious. The UNSC never concerned themselves with pleasing aesthetics, the number one priority was to ensure that everything from the MAC cannon to the inner subsystems were working as best as physically possible. Civilian sector comfort and aesthetics is a waste, any Spartan or Human Covenant War veteran would agree wholeheartedly.

Six hoped that the ship performed as good as it looked, otherwise he may have a word with the commander.

The Spartan scanned the mess hall and found what he deduced was the mess sergeant chatting away with one of the humans he engaged back on the frigate. His name was Jacob, if the Spartan remembered correctly.

Six glided over towards the pair, footfalls as silent as the wind.

The mess sergeant glanced over at Six before his head snapped onto the proverbial armored mountain, eyes wide like dinner plates. The soldier, Jacob, followed the man's gaze over and was apparently shocked himself at seeing the super soldier.

"Hey Six, I'm surprised to see you up here. How are you getting settled in the ship?" Jacob spoke first, having regained his composure as one would expect from an experienced combatant. The same however could not be said about the mess sergeant who was still gaping at Six.

"Good sir, the Normandy appears to be a decent ship. However, the UNSC didn't care about aesthetics or comfort," said Six.

Jacob smirked. "Yeah, never was much for the pretty looks either. But Cerberus wanted to make the best ship in the galaxy, so I guess this is their way of doing it," Six grunted.

He was already starting to like the human, he seemed to be an exemplary soldier who understood the need for basic necessities, and that anything more is just a waste of resources. The lone wolf's reassurance of this crew's competence went up a tick.

Jacob then turned to the now calmer mess sergeant. "Six, I'd like you to meet mess sergeant Rupert Gardner. He's our cook and all-round handyman," the Spartan looked at the older man and raised an eyebrow.

He is the ship's cook and handyman? That seems like an unlikely set of skills to be paired up for a crew man. Still very useful however.

"Pleasure to meet you Six," said Rupert, the Spartan cut himself off from his musings and looked at the man. He had a friendly smile and was holding his right hand out for the lone wolf to shake.

"Likewise," deadpanned the soldier. He brought out his own gauntlet and wrapped it around the significantly smaller hand, making sure not to accidently crush it due to his immense strength in armor.

"So, I take it you're hungry?" asked Rupert, Six nodded and the man set to work putting together a sizable meal for the large human.

"What's the status of the krogan?" questioned the Spartan out of the blue, startling Jacob for a second.

"Grunt's fine, you gave him one hell of a beating though. Why are you asking?" the soldier was curious and Six understood why; after all, they were enemies mere hours ago with their lives resting on Six's shoulders.

"We are no longer enemies sir, I just wished to know the status of all of the Normandy's assets since we have been assigned a mission," Jacob nodded, but had a look a suspicion on his face.

Why? Because of Six's classification of the Normandy's personnel as assets?

Well it's true. Everyone here is an asset. They are to be utilized to complete any missions that this vessel is assigned to. Like a jammed weapon, a severely injured ally is useless to completing a mission, though taking time to heal is no burden.

The hyper lethal chalked it up to Jacob not being a Spartan; therefore he wasn't trained the way they were. No matter, these soldiers are still very effective, more so than just about any ODST team he's ever seen. Just a few things that should be fixed.

Like professionalism; that bald woman is suffering the worst of it. How Shepard can deal with such insubordination is beyond Mike. Had Six been the CO, he'd probably have her shot after her pulling that stunt back on the Batarian planet.

Still, her biotics skills are invaluable in combat. Perhaps if Shepard disciplined the young woman, then she'd grow up.

If there's one thing Six has learnt it's that young people tend to be stupid. Not quite with the Spartans. Perhaps it's just a problem with the way they are raised. Not enough discipline and they get babied far too much… they weren't raised like the Spartans.

"Well, I'm glad that you aren't too gung ho. Tell me, what kind of missions do you have experience performing? Nothing classified I hope, I just want to get to know you better. Helps when it comes to deciding who goes with the ground team and what role they get," Six was tempted to snort; he's probably successfully completed more missions than the amount of times a person his age has had dinner.

"Sir, my experience is very vast. I can perform EVA, hostage rescue, assassination missions, sabotage ranging from surface ops to zero gravity engagements, espionage, recon, stealth engagements, anti-terrorism, hit and run strikes including insertion via orbital drop, snatch and grab ops-" Jacob raised his left hand, prompting the Spartan to stop. His countenance was full of surprise and so was Rupert's.

Jacob lowered his hand and exhaled. "So basically you mean to tell me that you can do it all, right?" the Spartan nodded; nothing else needs to be said.

The soldier chuckled. "Well, it's good to have you aboard Six. Listen, I'm gonna head over to the armory. If you want you can come and check out some of the other weapons we've got tucked away. While you're at it, you should try out the new firing range we've installed just last week," Six nodded, he liked the sound of that.

"I'll keep that in mind sir, thank you," Jacob saluted the Spartan. He returned the gesture and watched the man leave towards the elevator.

The lone wolf turned around to face the mess sergeant and gently took the tray of food from Rupert. It was a large piece of beef drenched in gravy with a side of mashed potatoes.

"Here, hope you enjoy, figured someone your size would eat more,"

"Thank you," the Spartan spun around and made his way back to his proclaimed domain.

" _Well that wasn't so bad was it? For once your conversations weren't too one sided,"_ chimed in Sigma, finally ending his apparent vow of silence.

Six grunted, the noise held no emotional value, nor was he trying to convey anything. He just didn't really know what else to say.

" _...And there we go again,"_ the AI sighed in exasperation, fueled like a combustion flame by Six's ever growing silence.

The Spartan found it funny, really. The artificial intelligence is acting more human than the human is.

Oh the irony.

" _So while you were out making friends, I've made several new discoveries,"_ began Sigma, desperately trying to keep the conversation afloat.

"What did you find?" questioned the super soldier as he placed his physical manifestation of humanity's sword and shield into the strategic weakness that was the elevator.

" _Well, let's just say that the government isn't exactly desirable,"_ the AI sighed. _"You know, for a galactic community that is supposed to be unified, this council doesn't seem to be doing a good job of keeping the galaxy together and looking out for threats like the Reapers,"_ Six pondered Sigma's words.

He had a feeling that it may have something to do with the fact that only one stealth corvette seems to be assigned on the mission to wipe out the Collectors and that the rest of the galaxy hasn't mobilized their fleets. At least, Shepard hasn't told him about such things.

" _Well, basically, a big Reaper called Sovereign attacked the Citadel, it was engaged by the Systems Alliance. It wiped out thirty percent of the fleet but was eventually destroyed once its barriers dropped. Despite the overwhelming evidence, the council merely brushed it off as a geth attack, opting to not mobilize their fleets or make preparations. What's even worse is that Commander Shepard died sometime after, this prompted the council to shut down the commander's claims since he wasn't even alive to defend them,"_

Six's face hardened. He was disgusted beyond imagining with what this galaxy calls a leadership. To so blatantly shame the commander after his subsequent death, not even to put a shred of thought or speculation into the situation. The evidence would have been there. Based on what Six knows, the geth wouldn't even have the technology or capacity to produce a vessel.

It's interesting that they mentioned the geth as the attackers too. If they represented a big enough threat to the Citadel like that, then they would have mobilized a combined assault to eliminate the geth. So… what… is the council too lazy to mobilize the navy to deal with this threat? It's common sense really, and it appears the the galaxy's leadership has none.

Six seethed with a cold rage, the entire galaxy is at risk here. The Spartan wanted to go and burn the Citadel whilst listening to the tortured screams of the councillors as he carves them up like pumpkins with his kukri.

The Spartan will make it extra sharp for that occasion so the cuts are nice and clean.

Or maybe… dull it out, so the blade instead tears the flesh into bloody ribbons.

How could they disregard a soldier's words… especially the one that risked his life for their safety.

Unfortunately, slaughtering the scum won't do much good. The galaxy still needs them to lead and make preparations… they just need some convincing.

Six kept his emotions in check. Emotions are a burden after all, useless and just increases the chances of mistakes.

He knows what it's like… extinction. The Spartan has been fighting against it ever since the age of twelve.

 _A child soldier._

He suffered everyday, watched people die everyday, and killed the enemy everyday.

 _A tortured soul._

Watched as the culmination of thousands of years of human ingenuity was burned to ash.

 _A stolen childhood._

Dedicated his life to the military

 _Called to serve._

Fought with brothers and sisters.

 _Humanity's sword and shield._

Watched them die…

 _A freak…_

Lived and won.

 _It didn't matter._

" _Six? Six!"_ the familiar voice shook him from his stupor, the Spartan looked around him; he was in the cargo bay, sitting on the same crate as before.

He looked down, and felt a tightness in his chest. His heart rate quickened and he took a shaky breath.

In his left gauntlet was the dogtags of Noble Team.

" _Are you okay? You just went silent and hadn't even moved since you sat down,"_ Sigma was worried, but Six didn't know why. His status is green, no injuries, no combat inefficiencies. Nothing.

"I'm fine Sigma," Six knew the AI wouldn't believe him. But what else could he do?

" _You should probably eat your food before it goes cold,"_ the hyper lethal looked to his left and spotted the tray sitting on a small one by one meter crate.

The Spartan eyed his motion tracker for any movement.

Nothing.

Still, Six looked around the room and searched every inch of it visually for any threats; technology breaks, eyes don't.

With a twist and a hiss, the helmet came off. Six placed it next to the tray and retrieved the food off the crate.

The large human dug into the food and found himself surprised; it was delicious, a luxury compared to his usual rations. To think that people actually complain about this food.

Even if the quality wasn't as impressive, it's still food, a necessity. How could anyone complain about it?

It didn't matter.

* * *

 _Commencing reflexive live fire training exercise… standby..._

Garrus readied his weapon; an Avenger assault rifle; just to warm up of course.

Fresh thermal clip, sights are properly calibrated, and the weapon was taken apart and cleaned thoroughly.

 _Commence training exercise._

The thin, white metal bullseye plates, no bigger than four inches in diameter, sprang up and began moving almost blindingly fast in random directions.

Up, down, left, right, and diagonally.

Such a display would have your average marksman suffering severely from migraines of epic proportions.

Garrus shouldered his rifle and fired at the first target in front of him. The sand grain sized pellet pierced right through the plate and pinged off of the back wall.

In a motion guided my muscle memory thanks to years of practice, the Turian snapped to the left and fired two more rounds, each shot landed dead centre in its own target.

 _Inhale, fire, exhale, switch targets, inhale, fire, repeat._

The Turian worked like a robot on an assembly line, repeating those actions and achieving the same results; perfect accuracy.

 _Cease fire, training exercise over. Targets hit: eighteen out of twenty. Accuracy: 90%._

"Damn it," muttered Garrus, his disappointment comparable to an annoying itch from poison ivy.

The new firing range in the armory was an excellent addition, installed only a week ago. One could see the shooting range across from the window displaying the ship's mass effect core. It's six meters wide and fifteen meters long. A lot of the the wall had to be removed, and several subsystems rerouted and decreased in size. Garrus was honestly surprised that The Illusive Man agreed with Shepard's request. But in the end, the Turian didn't complain.

The turian sighed; he's been trying to beat this difficulty for the past hour, to no avail.

Garrus muttered under his breath as he removed his thermal clip and went to select a new weapon.

The sniper turned around and then stopped, countenance filled with shock.

Standing all the way across the armory was none other than the Spartan. The soldier was inspecting the wide assortment of the weapons that the Normandy had at its disposal.

 _Spirits, how can this guy move so silently?_

It didn't seem possible, given his bulk, he had to weigh more than a krogan with that heavy armor. So how can he move so silently?

Garrus shivered.

He wondered how much destruction this human could cause without even being seen.

He shivered again.

But Garrus realized that this guy was an ally. If he wanted to kill them, he would have done it back on his ship.

The turian smiled to himself as he approached the Spartan.

"Can I help you?" the deep voice of the Spartan was monotone, though it didn't seem malicious.

"I don't think I've had a chance to properly introduce myself," began the turian after regaining his confidence. "I'm Vakarian. Garrus Vakarian. Shepard and I go way back,"

The soldier turned around and looked at the turian's outstretched hand. It was unnerving how motionless he was as those unseen eyes analysed the turian for the smallest of details.

"I'm Six," replied the human to the surprised turian. Garrus felt the massive gauntlet wrap around his hand.

It was a powerful grip that felt as if it could crush steel, yet it still felt as if the Spartan was trying to restrain himself.

A strange name, but Garrus knew it wasn't his real name, he still didn't trust them.

Frankly, the turian didn't blame him, after all, from what Shepard has told him, the Spartan is from a different universe. Garrus couldn't imagine the shock of being taken to an alternate reality, and then having to face down an army of Batarians, followed by a ground team from the Normandy.

So this begs the question: how is he so calm?

Maybe one day Garrus will find that answer.

"Seems to me you've taken interest in our weapons," said Garrus, attempting to converse with the silent giant whilst pointing out the obvious.

"Element Zero weapons hold some prominent advantages over UNSC weapons," replied the Spartan, eyes not leaving the assortment of weapons.

"You know, It's one thing to take apart and put together a gun, but it's entirely different to actually shoot a gun at something," Garrus laid the bait for the Spartan; he was challenging him. The sniper knows how deadly this human is without a weapon. But how deadly is he with one?

The Spartan looked at the turian and cocked his head to the side.

Garrus smirked; he now has his full attention.

"I pride myself with being the best sharpshooter the Normandy has to offer," began Garrus as he willed himself back towards the shooting range. "By extension, I'm one of, if not the best sharpshooter in the galaxy," Garrus smirked; he liked to brag, especially when he knew that he was the best.

Still, he wondered how this soldier will stack up against him.

"So what do you say? A friendly competition, you against me?" done, now it was time to see the competitive side of the super soldier.

The Spartan stared at him for a long thirty seconds. His visor bore into Garrus's soul. The turian shivered and remembered the slight fear he felt in Six's presence.

The Spartan nodded, surprising the turian, and made his way over to the turian at a casual pace.

"How does this competition work?" asked the human in a monotone voice, if Garus didn't know any better, he may have detected some curiosity laced in there.

"Simple, once you are told to start, you try to hit all of the targets as accurately as possible. There are twenty targets and you have forty seconds to hit them... you up for the challenge?" the Spartan instantly nodded and Garrus found himself surprised at the Spartan's competitiveness.

"Okay, we'll start off with the M-8 Avenger just to keep things simple, I'll go first," Garrus took a deep breath and checked his weapon.

Even though he already cleaned the weapon twice before beginning his exercise, it's an old habit that Garrus hasn't even bothered to get rid of. Why would he?

The turian nodded and loaded the weapon with a new thermal clip.

 _Hello, Garrus Vakarian, would you like to restart difficulty level five?_

"Load difficulty level four please,"

 _Commencing reflexive live fire training exercise… standby..._

Garrus readied himself and took a deep breath.

 _Commence training exercise._

Just like the last time, Garrus set himself to work by seeking out and firing upon each target with amazing precision.

He noted how much easier it was than the harder difficulty.

One by one, the targets found themselves with a newly acquainted dent right in the center.

 _Cease fire, training exercise over. Targets hit: twenty out of twenty. Accuracy: 100%_

Garrus smirked; it was far too easy. The turian looked over at the Spartan, the large human nodded in appreciation.

"Your turn," the human took the weapon from the turian and loaded a new thermal clip.

 _Detecting Unknown User, please identify yourself._

"Noble Six,"

 _Welcome, Noble Six, would you like to restart level four?_

"Affirmative,"

 _Commencing reflexive live fire training exercise… standby..._

Garrus watched the Spartan ready his firearm.

 _Commence training exercise._

At that instant, the Spartan's arms and gun became a blur and the weapon was fired so quickly that it sounded as if it the human was holding the trigger and firing at full auto. In an impossible span of five seconds, it was over.

The Spartan ejected the thermal clip and gave the weapon to a bewildered Garrus.

 _Cease fire, training exercise over. Targets hit: forty out of twenty. Accuracy: 200%._

"Spirits… How!?" exclaimed Garrus, his mandibles were spread wide enough to appear as if they were trying to seperate from his head, and his eyes were the size of dinner plates.

"I fired two rounds into each target to maximize the damage done," replied the Spartan nonchalantly.

"Remind me not to piss you off. Spirits, is there anything you can't do?" the Spartan only shrugged, prompting Garrus to sigh in frustration.

"So unfair…" muttered Garrus, frustrated that this newcomer actually managed to beat him.

"Shall we continue?" Garrus looked up at the giant. He's never seen a human make a turian look small.

"No… I think you've beaten me enough that perhaps I should…. practice more... yes. I'll beat you back someday," Garrus flashed the large human a turian smirk before heading off to the mess hall; he was hungry.

Garrus could have sworn that he heard something originating from the super soldier. It almost sounded like…. a chuckle?

So there was a human underneath that shell.

Garrus smiled; it will be interesting to have a new addition to the family.

* * *

Kasumi was bored… that much was obvious.

It's been a while since she's been in combat against some lousy mercenaries or pirates. The lack of loot to plunder was been grating on her nerves for the past few days. The last trip to the Citadel was short but fun. She managed to 'earn' a decent sum of credits during that little field trip.

After thoroughly messing with Miranda's office and displacing several of the doctor's equipment, she didn't know what to do.

She thought about screwing with Zaeed's rifle, Jessie. Maybe she could take it apart and displace the magnets designed to propel the gun's projectiles at a small percentage of the speed of light.

But she briefly remembered almost losing her head trying to do that before. Moral of the story; no one fucks with Jessie.

 _So bored._

The thief casually walzted out of the elevator, active camo engaged. No one could notice her.

 _So, this is where the silent giant lives…_

Indeed, Kasumi has positioned herself in the living spot of quite possibly the most dangerous living being in the galaxy.

Was she stupid? No, she'd prefer to say very curious.

She looked around the large room and realized that it was unoccupied save for her own presence; the giant had apparently vacated the area.

 _I guess it wouldn't hurt to take a look around, right?_

The room seemed to look untouched, save for the massive crates with the letters 'UNSC' painted onto them. She deduced that the Spartan's belongings were in there.

She smirked at the apparent lack of security regarding the aforementioned belongings, and allowed her skills as a thief to silently properly here slender, lightweight frame across the room.

The thief stopped and scanned the Spartan's workspace. It was clean.

It intrigued her honestly, to see such professionalism and discipline at work here. As a thief, she was no stranger to paying huge attention to detail and making sure nothing was misplaced in order to cover up her tracks.

But to see similar skills and traits outside of thievery came as a bit of a shock to Kasumi. This guy was a soldier through and through. She remembered the soldier spending at the minimum, half an hour going through his equipment and cleaning and inspecting everything down to the tiniest bullet.

Of course, Kasumi's knowledge of this couldn't have possibly been sprouted from her observing the armored giant through the window overlooking the cargo bay… right?

Kasumi cut off her musings and slowly reached out to the closest crate with her right hand. Her curiosity and boredom had to be sated.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Kasumi stopped, how did she not notice that someone was behind her?

"Kasumi, I know you're there," damn, it was Shepard.

The escape artist sighed, she knew that she was caught and promptly deactivated her cloaking device.

Kasumi turned around to face the smirking commander, he was simply standing there with his hands on his hips in a manner akin to that of a parent about to scold a child.

"Hi Shepard, don't mind me, just strolling around," said Kasumi, trying her damndest to put on the most innocent smile possible.

She _did_ try…

"Nice try Kasumi, but I'd reckon that the silent giant has gotten your attention," Kasumi frowned, sure it was obvious, but him pointing out the obvious is just annoying.

"Well… He did bring some interesting toys with him. I was hoping to have a look at them…" Kasumi was surprised to see the commander vigorously shake his head in the negative.

"That's not a good idea Kasumi. Those crates are rigged with some kind of stun device that'll probably knock you on your ass and leave you unconscious for a few hours," Kasumi only grinned; she was well aware of the security system the big guy installed.

It was a good move in her opinion, the thief probably would have done the same thing.

"Yes Shepard, of course. But you are forgetting that standing right in front of you just happens to be the best thief in the galaxy," Kasumi grinned triumphantly, surely the commander would understand now.

"No."

Or not…

"What do you mean no?" asked Kasumi incredulously, as if the very notion of Shepard's disagreement would result in the universe shaking itself asunder.

"Exactly that Kasumi. He'll know something is missing when he comes back. Six is a soldier through and through and his equipment is a military secret. He'll probably kill you and maybe even the ship thinking I ordered you to steal from him," Kasumi raised both eyebrows in shock.

That's... cold, to say the least. Even Zaeed or Grunt wouldn't do such a thing… ok… maybe Grunt but still.

"You're no fun," muttered the escape artist futily.

Shepard's smile returned. "I just want to earn his trust Kasumi, even then I'm not willing to betray that trust once I earn it,"

"You're really interested in this guy Shepard, more so than anyone else once you recruit them," pointed out Kasumi inquisitively.

Shepard's smile disappeared. "He's something special Kasumi. A soldier the likes of which I, or maybe even the galaxy has never seen before. The Reapers are coming, I know that. We need his help. That's I'll I want to say right now,"

With that, the commander spun around on his heels and made to leave the cargo bay, leaving a very confused Kasumi to ponder his words.

She kept repeating those words in her head as she waited for the abysmal elevator to return.

 _We need his help._

* * *

" _The Genophage?"_

Knowledge is power. Anyone should know this. Knowledge is a weapon far more destructive than any physical weapon. It bolsters one's options in combat or any other form of planning. It helps prepare anyone for any situation, and through its power, allows sentient beings to strive for the most desirable results of any endeavor.

Sigma knows this better than most.

He's been keeping himself occupied by diving 'head' first into the treasure trove of data that was the codex. He was impressed with what he's learned so far in such a short amount of time.

But the codex also represents a significant security breach if he had to be honest.

It contains the coordinates of every colonized world that the Citadel knows of. Considering how readily available it is, any invading hostile force can access the codex and have at their very fingertips every single one of the Citadel's most valuable assets.

Plain stupid really.

The UNSC has made it their number one goal to ensure that the Covenant never learned of the location of human worlds. It was one of the few reasons that the human race lasted so long against the Covenant.

Failure to comply and destroy anything pertaining to that data would instantly result in the closest firing squad turning on the lead faucet on the offender.

But here… common sense doesn't seem to exist.

These misbegotten morons would last a year if the Covenant existed in this galaxy.

Right now, Sigma has been researching the genophage.

Needless to say, he was quite angered by uncovering this revelation.

Of course, it was classified, but their firewalls are laughable. The AI could perform billions of other tasks and still crack their encryptions in a microsecond.

Apparently, the genophage was utilized on the krogan population in order to halt their high birth rate. Interesting, it seems that their birth rate is almost as high as the unggoy.

The krogan individually made for excellent shock troops. Their incredible life spans allow for a krogan to accumulate tons of combat experience.

Of course, the giant toads aren't particularly smart so the usefulness of that experience can't fully be determined.

Sigma in a way understood the need for the genophage, perhaps lowering the birth rate to more normal levels found in other species is a viable option.

But hampering their birth rate to the point where the krogan are on the verge of extinction is unjustifiable. It reminded Sigma of the Covenant in a small way. The Citadel doesn't care for their extinction. They think that the krogan are animals that can be put down without hesitation. Beings less useful than a broken tool, only to be expunged from the galaxy.

Sickening really, and Sigma felt his emotion capacitors slowly overload from the anger.

The Covenant sought to eliminate humanity, and it seems that the council is perfectly fine with wiping out the krogans. Despite how tame it is compared to what the Covenant did, it was still inexcusable, a damn sin.

Six wouldn't approve of this. The Spartan already dislikes the Citadel council and informing him of this might not be a very good idea. When the time comes, the lone wolf will know.

Next up on the agenda is the quarians and their apparent exile from their homeworld. Apparently the quarians were the ones who created the geth as a form of automated labour; a viable option.

Unfortunately, the Citadel passed a law stating that AIs are illegal, thus prompting the quarians to eliminate the geth. It didn't go to plan and the robots adapted and learned. Their forces overpowered the quarians and forced them to spend the next three hundred years as nomads living in a fleet of gargantuan proportions.

Despite following Citadel law, they like the krogans, were cast aside like a worn out tool to slowly die out; three hundred years living on ships is a long time, and they eventually evolved to become used to the sterile environments. As a result, their immune systems are so weak, that exposing their skin at all is a death sentence. The quarians live their entire lives in special suits designed to protect them from diseases that any normal immune system could overcome without a second thought .

Sigma felt pity well up in him for these two species. They were left out as outcasts to the galactic community. No one seems to care about their fate. Something had to be done. Perhaps if Six had a chat with the commander, they could arrange something.

The smart AI momentarily ceased his research and shifted his focus onto the Spartan. Six was still at the firing range, blasting away at the targets with laughable ease. He wasn't practicing his accuracy; improvements can't be made when performing tasks that are this easy. It seemed that the soldier was content with trying out all of the weapons in the Normandy's armory.

A smart move, since his supply of UNSC and Covenant weaponry was quite limited. It could last many months though if the Spartan was wise with how he expended his munitions.

It was happening again…

The Spartan is once again subjecting himself to an unnecessary amount of time training. The AI managed to convince the hyper lethal to cease his actions, but only momentarily. Something had to be done. Sigma had no idea that the Spartan was this hurt over the deaths of the rest of Noble Team.

The AI watched with growing worry as the soldier robotically repeated his actions. Firing, unloading his weapon, using a new weapon, and then so on. It sickened him to no end how this was all drilled into him since the age of Six, almost like brainwashing.

 _The perfect soldier._

Those words were repeated in Sigma's 'subconscious'. A childhood stolen, and many lifetimes of all forms of torture directed onto one living being.

He was only taught how to fight, how to kill, how to destroy.

Nothing else.

 _Expendable soldiers. Trading lives for time. Time they didn't have._

Someone needs to help him, to save him from this destructive path. Six needs to learn to live and let go, to push the past behind him and move on.

He needs to learn how to live.

* * *

Spartan B312 woke up and in a flash stood up to scan his environment.

All clear, no hostiles, signs of ambush, or anything else that may represent a threat to the Spartan or a significant security breach in the Normandy.

"Sigma, ETA until mission briefing?" questioned the Spartan as he loaded his magnum and placed it on his right hip.

" _You've got one hour Six, been sleeping in haven't you?"_ Six sighed at the AI, it was Sigma's idea for Six to get some shut eye, after he burned holes through the targets at the firing range due to all of his shots landing on the same part of the bullseye.

The Spartan tried asking EDI to develop a program that would actually provide him a challenge. But he was disappointed when the AI stated that she didn't have the processing power to comprehend the Spartan's accuracy, nor did the firing range possess advanced enough servo motors to allow the targets to move fast enough.

A shame…

"Sigma, this was your idea, I did not require sleep," argued the Spartan with his deadpan, not quite wishing to deal with Sigma's cheeriness.

" _Oh the excuses… silly primitive,"_ the AI chuckled and the Spartan frowned.

The Spartan began his morning routine as he dropped down for 'some' pushups.

" _Seriously…"_ began the AI, but stopped himself knowing that whatever he had to say on the matter would fall on deaf ears.

The Spartan pumped out his pushups in a perfect rhythm.

 _50…_

100…

200…

Like an assembly robot, the Spartan did not stop, nor did he tire. His muscles barely protested thanks to his superhuman traits further amplified to impossible levels due to MJOLNIR.

"Sigma, have you learned anything about the mission?" said Six in a voice as calm as a cool spring breeze, despite the overwhelming number of pushups he continued to pump out.

" _Always about the mission… sorry… was thinking about something else… anyways, I haven't found anything useful. I just know that the man assigning it to us is an Admiral Hackett. He's an exemplary naval officer and he kind of reminds me of Admiral Cole in a way. We are operating in the Terminus Systems, well known for piracy and other illegal activities. Besides that, I don't know,"_ Six was surprised, Sigma is rarely found without knowledge of the situation.

It means that the intel about the mission is very well hidden. But that's not a viable explanation.

It's already proven that the Normandy's firewalls and AI are no match for Sigma.

Six's brain kicked into action whilst he continued his workout. Something doesn't make sense.

The objective had to be high profile to warrant the deployment of the Normandy and a high caliber team like Shepard's.

Admiral Hackett would have transferred the specific intel to Shepard hours prior to the briefing in order for the commander to become properly acquainted with the objective, combat environment, hostile force projection, discipline, and so on. It allows for Shepard to assemble a proper plan and actually pull off the mission.

If it's a hostage rescue, then the figure would be very high profile since they seem to be dealing with criminals here. A politician, or high ranking military individual would be the likely target. They'd be kidnapped for a sizable ransom. News of said kidnapping would spread throughout the galaxy at an alarming rate meaning Sigma would have picked up on it.

Retrieving stolen weapons of mass destruction would be very similar; widespread news about a high profile occurence, child's play for an AI like Sigma to detect.

Assassinating a target would, again, be similar. High profile figures, almost as much as a politician or military officer.

What could this mean? That the mission objective is misleading, or worst of all, doesn't exist?

That's not good, but it's only a possibility and may not be true.

Hopefully.

The Spartan stopped his thought process momentarily; they will deal with what is to come. Though it never hurts to know more.

It was at pushup number two thousand when the Spartan decided to stop.

His muscles were hardly sore. But those pushups only served to wake up the soldier more; like a splash of cold water on someone's face.

" _Still got about twenty minutes Six, I don't think showing up to the briefing that early will do any good,"_

Six stopped for a moment and wondered what he could do to pass the time. Training will only tire him out, if only slightly, but it's still a good idea to maintain peak efficiency for the mission.

Six brought up his tacpad and cycled through his armor's systems, he even brought up more data on his HUD to quicken the armor's status report.

All systems green…

Six inwardly sighed, what can he do?

The Spartan's head suddenly snapped onto the crates of UNSC and Covenant hardware.

Of course.

Six nodded in satisfaction.

" _What are you doing Six?"_ the hyper lethal ignored the suspicious question and pulled forth a jackhammer rocket launcher; he might not be bringing this weapon with him, but maybe if he just checked the cycling of the tubes…

" _Of course…"_ grumbled the all too childish sounding AI as the super soldier continued his work, unperturbed at the increasingly annoyed Sigma.

* * *

 **Yeah… this chapter was very short by my standards. Honestly I couldn't really implement much into this chapter though. I only wanted it to take place in the Normandy. The whole purpose of it is to show Six settling in which is why most of the chapter was about him. The mission in the next chapter is completely made up. Hopefully that won't be too big a deal. But this mission is supposed to introduce Six to his new team basically… and maybe even have some significance regarding the rest of the plot. I guess this just seemed the perfect place to end the chapter.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer:** Any and all characters are not my own. Neither is the Halo and Mass Effect series.

 **Rated M**

 **Chapter 5 - Trial by Fire**

* * *

 _Hell._

 _That seemed to be the atmosphere that permeated this once peaceful city._

 _There were fires that stretched the horizon and could be seen from miles away. It seemed to blanket everything in sight like some kind of massive carpet. The flames were hastily brought down upon the innocent inhabitants by the foe Shepard swore to stop._

 _He took an oath, a soldier's oath, that he is willing to lay down his life and the lives of his fellow soldiers to protect not just the human race, but every single one of the species that called the Milky Way galaxy home._

 _He failed that oath._

 _The fire swept through the streets and enveloped every building, every alley, and every living creature like a blanket._

 _This place is their tomb now, not their home. Entire families buried in the several feet of rubble that now clogged the streets_

 _He could have been more. But he was too weak, too pathetic-_

 _-An explosion rocked the ex spectre's body and sent him sprawling to the ground. The man coughed up blood, but didn't taste copper._

 _That was strange._

 _He didn't have a weapon, but his armor was still there, it was ripped apart beyond recognition._

 _The commander observed the fruits of his failure and watched the unending tide of husks marching down the street towards him._

 _Hundreds… thousands…_

 _More than that._

 _Shepard shakily rose to his feet and wondered why he felt no pain._

 _It didn't matter._

 _He prepared to use his biotics. To do anything to fight back._

 _He couldn't fail-_

 _Did he fail?_

 _Was all of his hard work for nothing? Did his team die in vain?_

 _No… No!_

 _Shepard focused his anger on the husks. He prepared to muster his biotic power, to use every fiber of his existence and unleash a tidal wave of destruction on the approaching former humans._

 _Nothing happened._

 _Impossible! He was hurt but not tired, nor did he feel pain._

 _Is he that weak? That much of a failure? That he couldn't even keep his team alive in the face of the galaxy's doom? That he can't even summon his biotics?_

 _Shepard didn't care if he was the last sentient being alive or not. He didn't care if he had a weapon or not, didn't care if his biotics worked or not._

 _It didn't matter… only victory mattered._

 _Shepard's face contorted into a mask of terrifying rage. He balled up his fists and took a painstakingly slow step towards the seemingly infinite tidal wave of husks._

 _He would die fighting._

 _More explosions followed by the faint staccato of gunfire could be heard in the distance._

 _The Reaper ships stalked the commander from a distance, at least a dozen destroyers stomped throughout the city, over the vapourized buildings and rubble flooded streets, their weapons firing off and vapourizing the last traces of resistance._

 _They charged._

 _At least four dozen husks rushed the commander._

 _The human stood his ground and prepared to either beat his opponents to death or to die with his fist down one of their throats._

 _They closed the distance quickly with their speed, and made to devour the lone spectre._

 _The first one lunged from a distance of five meters, intending to tackle the commander-_

 _It didn't make it._

 _An invisible force that was seemingly spawned by the supernatural made its presence known amongst the forces of evil and promptly bisected the husk. Its two halves slid the rest of the way before stopping short of touching Shepard's armored boots._

 _The husks didn't care and continued the charge unperturbed._

 _It didn't matter._

 _The invisible threat rampaged unseen to even Shepard's eyes, slaughtering the husks so fast that it seemed to be everywhere at once. It appeared as if the former humans were put through a meat grinder._

 _Some were chopped up into confetti, others were pulverized by a blunt force that no krogan could hope to summon. A few were simply flung into the remains of buildings at breakneck speeds. They collided with sickening wet crunches and remained motionless._

 _It took less than a minute to slaughter the husks._

 _The aftermath remains in the form of cooked body parts strewn all over the street in front of the bewildered commander._

 _As if somehow sensing the death of their brethren, the Reaper ships halted their rampage and almost glared at Shepard._

 _The commander wondered what could have done that._

 _Not a second later, his question was answered when out of thin air, a massive armored form shimmered into view in front of Shepard. It's back was turned but the commander knew who it was._

 _The Black Death, the Grim Reaper, or simply Six._

" _Rest easy commander," he said."I will handle this."_

 _He was so calm in the face of overwhelming odds, as if he dealt with situations like this on a daily basis._

" _We've lost Six, it's over. What can you possibly do?" asked Shepard, he wasn't one to give up. No, the commander would die fighting, but he recognized defeat when he saw it._

" _Sir, we haven't lost," the Spartan replied, voice impossibly calm. On queue, he withdrew two strange silver handles from his hips. With a flick of his wrists, two long, double pronged blades of light were deployed from the handles._

" _What are you doing?"_

 _The Spartan in response crossed the blades over his chest._

" _Finishing this fight."_

* * *

Shepard shot up out of his bed and brought up his hands to defend himself from the husks. His heart rate was impossibly high.

The ex spectre surveyed the room and realized that he had experienced a nightmare.

Shepard sighed in a mixture of exasperation and relief and allowed his hands to fall to his sides.

 _Just a dream… just a dream._

"EDI, how much longer until we reach our destination?" questioned the commander, in a slightly weaker voice after sleeping through a terrifying nightmare that could turn out to be true.

" _Exactly two hours, would you like me to notify the ground team?"_

"Not now EDI, an hour from now if you will," replied Shepard, confidence returning in copious amounts.

" _Of course,"_

The commander sighed and looked down at the floor, still trying to comprehend the dream.

What could it mean?

Ever since his encounter with the prothean beacon, Shepard didn't take visions or dreams for granted again. The Spartan seemed to have some kind of effect on the ship ever since he arrived.

Most of the crew is terrified of him. Even some of the ground team is wary of his presence.

But most of all, Shepard noticed that ever since Six was accepted onto the Normandy, the ground team, himself included, have been itching to fight something, anything.

It wasn't bloodlust, more like an unexpected boost in willpower.

Shepard appreciated the boost. They were going to need everything to defeat the Collectors, and eventually the Reapers.

Before Shepard cut himself off from the physical realm and welcomed himself to the unpredictable environment of deep sleep, the veteran soldier made sure to contact Admiral Hackett on the enigmatic mission.

Enigmatic was a bit of an understatement.

The admiral informed Shepard that apparently Batarian pirates have somehow gotten a hold of classified Alliance intelligence that can compromise the entire defence network should it be passed on to the Hegemony. The good admiral was informed by an unknown source claiming to be apart of Alliance intelligence.

That was the already limited intel summarized. Shepard was going to go over it with the ground team. He was worried that this was somehow a trap, developed by either the pirates or the Hegemony in an attempt to capture valuable Alliance personnel such as special forces operators, individuals with access to classified information that rank and file soldiers usually don't have. Worse, they could also attempt to hold the captured personnel as ransom. Should they get their way and the Alliance pays off the ransom by some slim chance, who knows what the pirates or Hegemony may attempt with the extra funding.

Furthermore, the Hegemony may leak this information to several groups of Batarian pirates and slavers so that they may attack human patrols and undefended colonies. The hegemony won't get blamed, and the Citadel technically don't have jurisdiction in the Terminus Systems. So the Alliance would take the beating and the rest of the Citadel likely won't care.

It's a smart move. The Alliance fleet is weakened from the Sovereign incident and the Collector attacks are only making it worse. Hit and run attacks from pirates is definitely not desirable, especially considering the predicament of humanity's military.

Trap or not, the commander isn't going to let the Batarians threaten his species. He was sure that Six would wholeheartedly agree with him as well.

Shepard smirked; he was itching to see the Spartan in action against the Normandy's enemies.

If Hackett's reports are accurate, then the facility that they will be assaulting is heavily guarded, probably a few hundred Batarians. Shepard's team would have needed serious assets to pull off an assault like that.

But they now have Six.

Hopefully the Spartan can live up to his expectations.

He had a feeling that he won't be disappointed.

* * *

Zaeed looked over his prized weapon carefully, making sure that every component of the weathered weapon worked well beyond perfection.

"Goddamn piece of junk…" muttered Zaeed as he worked furiously.

Most of the weapon worked fine. It was just a strange glitch in the weapon's computer system that resulted in the weapon failing to account for the release of heat everytime a round is fired. This results in some of the heat lingering in the weapon and not being transfered into the heatsink resulting in a premature overheat.

That wasn't supposed to happen.

One hundred percent of the heat should be stored in the heat sink and dispersed. Once the heat sink is expended, the weapon's computer system puts it on permanent safety until a fresh thermal clip is detected. The overheat mechanism is simply a failsafe if the computer gets banged up or if the thermal clip is somehow damaged.

But the computer is intact and so are the thermal clips.

"I swear if Kasumi did this…" Zaeed's already thin patience was running out, and his scowl was threatening to turn into a full fledged growl that bared teeth.

" _Zaeed Massani, please report to the briefing room immediately,"_ deadpanned EDI, only causing Zaeed to fumble with the current, almost microscopic wire he was examining.

"Yeah, yeah…. stupid AI," Zaeed growled and left his incomplete weapon as he set course for said briefing room.

There was many things that pissed off Zaeed, but there was nothing more aggravating than having to constantly repair Jessie. That rifle is older than Shepard and it's seen decades of action. The weapon was still reliable… for the most part.

For now he'd just stick with the regular weapons in the Normandy's armory.

Still, none of them compare to that damn rifle.

Zaeed grumbled and slammed the elevator button, promoting the hated maw to enclose him in that hated space that no one dares to mention.

This mission better be good. So far, Shepard has taken him on one hell of a ride across the galaxy, getting into all kinds of firefights that has pushed the mercenary's adrenal glands to their limits.

Cerberus better pay him well for this.

Not many people survive getting shot in the face, mauled by krogans, or kicked around by invincible super soldiers.

Such was the life of Zaeed Massani.

Afterwards, Zaeed will probably have to have a word with the Cerberus dog Jacob or perhaps even Shepard about fixing Jessie. Best girlfriend _he's_ ever had really, shame to let her rot.

The elevator opened and Zaeed found himself relatively pleased that his musings have kept his thoughts off of the elevator.

He ignored the uncomfortable or awed expressions from the CIC crew and headed to the armory.

The door opened and revealed the place to be empty.

Odd. Jacob practically lived in the armory, it meant that he's also in the briefing room.

" _The rest of the ground team are in the briefing room waiting for you, Zaeed Massani,"_

The mercenary scowled, "I bloody know that you stupid machine," growled Zaeed.

He slowly made his way over to the door leading into the briefing room.

It opened and revealed to him several pairs of unamused eyes staring directly at him. Being in such a situation would unnerve anyone else, but Zaeed wasn't anyone else.

"So Zaeed," began Shepard in an almost condescending tone "Care to explain what you found to be so important that you had to be late?"

Zaeed sighed. "Was trying to fix Jessie, the bitch still won't work," Shepard grinned, prompting Zaeed to narrow his eyes.

"Still? Maybe you should sign the divorce papers, if she doesn't want to work, maybe she doesn't like you," said Shepard, the room was filled with laughter of varying degrees from the crew members, apparently they found Zaeed's suffering to be amusing.

"Shut up, Shepard," growled Zaeed,

That damn grin only widened but the laughter died down quickly at least.

"Well, looks like everyone is here, let's begin, EDI bring up the external view of the objective area," ordered the commander, a calm silence quickly took hold of the room, and Shepard's expression changed into his usual all business look.

" _Of course commander,"_ on queue, a map sprung up on the holopad. Zaeed analyzed it with a critical eye and almost whistled in appreciation.

The base was massive. It seemed to be constructed out of some sort of reinforced concrete, old fashioned construction that was very common in bunkers.

It definitely looked like something that pirates would construct… if they received an absurd amount of funding. They wouldn't be capable of affording more expensive materials to build a fortress. But even then, it was huge. Pirates shouldn't have the funding to construct such a monster. Unless someone gave them the damn credits.

Had to be the Hegemony funding the Batarian pirates.

Massive walls almost at seventy feet in height surrounded the many buildings that were scattered throughout the base. At each corner stood huge watchtowers that appeared to be twice as tall.

The outside seemed to be lacking in firepower when it came to stopping any large scale campaign. But in his many decades of experience, Zaeed knew not to let its looks deceive him.

On the inside there were several dozen buildings of all sizes, ranging from warehouses, to barracks buildings, to landing pads and so on. It was impressive, many Systems Alliance garrisons aren't that large.

The most interesting structure however, located in the middle, was a massive circular bunker. There was a ramp large enough to fit two makos side by side that led up to the top. On the top of the fifty foot structure, Zaeed had to guess that part of the roof could descend down underneath the base as an elevator.

Lush forests surrounded the base for hundreds of kilometers in every direction, that was useful for camouflage, and it also made the base more difficult to find. Clearly, they are hiding something important here.

"What you are looking at is a batarian pirate and/or Hegemony stronghold not known to exist by the Alliance up until now," began Shepard. He took a deep breath before continuing. "Admiral Hackett was informed by an unknown source claiming to be a part of Alliance intelligence that this garrison contains information that could expose the Alliance defense network. That includes force projections on all human worlds as well as patrol and supply schedules," Zaeed inwardly growled, of course those damn Batarians would be trying to cause as much damage to humanity as possible!

"Of course that's just the tip of the iceberg, we don't know to how much information was exposed, but we can assume that it's abysmal should the threat be ignored," Zaeed looked around the room and saw varying expressions.

Jacob and Miranda both had deadly gazes locked onto to the hologram of the stronghold. Jack and Grunt appeared to be excited at the prospect of facing down overwhelming odds, Kasumi, he couldn't really tell, since her hood was in the way. Strangely enough, Mordin seemed interested as well. But then again, he's a salarian, information means everything to them. Lastly, the new armored behemoth seemed to be frozen in time. Not a single muscle so much as twitched for a split second and determining any other expressions was impossible with his armor on.

"Our job is simple, how we accomplish it isn't," continued the commander theatrically, pulling the mercenary out of his stupor.

"Our objective is to retrieve anything and everything that may compromise the security of the Alliance, and I mean everything, search every nook and cranny, I don't want to take any chances when it comes to dealing with these scum," Zaeed noticed a small amount of malice in the commander's voice.

The mercenary smiled. _You and me both commander._

"Sir, permission to speak freely," every single eye present in the room instantly snapped onto the motionless and previously silent armoured behemoth that loomed over Jacob and Miranda like some kind of terrifying killer about to take its victims' lives.

Zaeed raised an eyebrow at the unnecessary formalities. He's seen and worked with countless ex military operatives and they still kept some formalities from their time in the military.

But nothing strict like this. Whoever Noble Six was, he was soldier to the bone and even more than that.

"Granted," Shepard replied, nice and simple, just the way any special forces operator would have preferred.

"Commander, interrogative; how do we know that the anonymous intelligence source is reliable?" Zaeed's eyebrows shot up slightly.

 _Damn, indoctrinated robot sounds more reasonable than just a veteran soldier. What the fuck did this guy deal with in his life to turn out like this?_

Shepard sighed and stared at the holotable before looking back up into that impenetrable visor.

"I don't trust it, but Admiral Hackett does. Apparently the message was heavily encrypted and used a unique, classified algorithm that only the intelligence branch has access to. No way anyone else can replicate it. Besides, I'm not taking any chances with humanity possibly at risk," the Spartan only nodded.

"Of course commander," deadpanned the Spartan.

"Right, as far as infiltration goes, we'll be approaching through a sewer system leading into the base. It will help us get in without having to deal with surface defenses. But make no mistake, if we get caught by any patrols, the mission gets scrubbed. I don't have to remind any of you that the batarians carry deadman switches which makes killing them silently useless."

A thin red line came into view leading from the north underneath the detailed holographic view of the surface garrison. Judging by the scale, it seemed to be a total of five hundred meters in length.

Great, they'll be trudging through five hundred meters of batarian shit and piss. Zaeed inwardly grumbled and started to wish that he just stayed put and instead continued his work on Jessie.

"We should have no problem moving through the sewers," stated Shepard which only resulted in Zaeed rolling his eyes.

"Exiting the sewers may be difficult though, they likely have several fireteams watching our entrance inside… I'm sure that you all know that the batarians aren't completely stupid. Once shit hits the fan, and believe me it will rather quickly, we'll have to move fast. This will require two teams, an assault team and an exfil team," Zaeed held his breath and mentally crossed his fingers; he really wanted to be on the assault team. Nothing worse than having to wait on the kodiak to either arrive late in the action or do fuck all the whole time.

"The assault team will consist of Zaeed, Jacob, Grunt, Miranda, Six, and myself. Everyone else will be on the exfil team," Zaeed could hardly contain his grin.

 _Hell yeah!_

"Six, you have the armor, I expect you to take point, you'll be the tip of the spear. Grunt will bring up the rear, and Miranda, you're in charge of defending the assault team with your biotics, heavens knows how many guns are gonna be shooting at us at the same time. Zaeed and Jacob, you'll be in charge of the team's heavy weapons," rambled off the commander with practiced ease. Zaeed had a shit eating grin upon hearing his role in the team.

"The kodiak will deliver the assault team before picking up the exfil team on the Normandy. It will remain on standby with the exfil team. The assault team will go along the aforementioned path through the sewers. Once we make contact and start trading shots, it's gonna get hectic. I expect the assault team to move fast and hard. Shock and awe tactics are key here in order to further disorganize any surprised hostiles," Zaeed found himself nodding at the commander; shock and awe was one of his specialties. Nothing better than charging through a group of enemies and gunning them down at close range.

"Uh Shepard, why the fuck am I gonna be sitting inside the kodiak with my thumb up my ass?" questioned Jack, her voice a little louder than necessary.

Zaeed could see the commander frown before shifting his gaze over to Jack.

"That's because we need your biotics Jack. If things get ugly and we need a quick extraction, we'll need your biotic barriers to protect the kodiak. If it gets fragged, then we're finished," Jack only seemed to roll her eyes before mumbling something under her breath.

"EDI was able to use the Normandy's sensors to compile a simple map that will guide us to the central server room, any questions?" the commander looked around the room expectedly.

"Is asset denial a possibility, commander?" Zaeed raised an eyebrow.

 _Asset denial? Like destroying the damn base?! This bastard is crazy! Though I do like the way he thinks._

Shepard himself looked surprised too.

"That's risky Six, if the opportunity presents itself then sure, but only key targets that may pose a threat to the Alliance. Remember, we are on a strict timeline, and having an entire battalion of pissed off Batarians on our asses doesn't help," replied Shepard with what sounded like an amused voice.

"Understood commander,"

"Great, remember, what we are doing here is crucial. The integrity of the Systems Alliance, and by extension, humanity, is depending on our success. This will be the SR2's most difficult mission to date. But I know we'll pull through. I picked all of you because you are the best, and the best always win,"

That seemed to brighten everyone's spirits, the crew all seemed to stand straighter at the praise from the legendary Commander Shepard. The only exception was Noble Six who was already standing as straight as possible.

Zaeed himself felt inspired slightly. But in all honesty, the mercenary wanted to see how this Spartan operated. He's been the subject of conversation for the past thirty six hours. No surprise really, since interdimensional super soldiers isn't usually something the average sentient being gets to see.

Shepard looked over every being in the room with a friendly smile.

"You've all got ten minutes to prepare, after that, I expect you all to meet me in the hanger bay. Dismissed," the ground team promptly filed out of the room with Zaeed in tow.

The mercenary decided on his loadout and figured that going with Jessie is a great idea.

Wait…

 _Son of a-_

* * *

" _So, just like old times, right?"_ the rest of the shuttle was silent with the members of the assigned assault team checking their weapons or otherwise staring at the floor of the kodiak.

Six scanned the rapidly approaching planet's surface with a critical eye. The hologram in the briefing room seemed to be accurate regarding the stronghold's surface.

It seemed well guarded against anything short of a regiment sized attack force. But what truly remains below the surface is what Six really wanted to find out.

It must have been a treasure trove of valuable intel that they could either steal, or destroy. High valued personnel could also be captured. But that's not the main objective, the retrieval of the data about humanity's defense is the main objective, it's far more valuable than anything else that is stored underground.

"These missions are usually performed by one or two Spartans," deadpanned the Spartan finally. He didn't remember opening his mouth to speak, but was grateful for his lifetime of military habits which allowed him to turn off his external speakers before speaking.

Six was in his element now. If all went according to plan, and they don't run into any snags, then they should make it out of this without too much of a hassle.

Still, Six couldn't help but frown.

They weren't Spartans.

They are exceptional soldiers… but not Spartans. There will be times that Six will have to protect them more often and rely upon them less often than fellow Spartans.

Still, it was nice to have some backup. A little extra firepower went a long way to increasing the chances of a successful mission.

Snag…

That was a word that no soldier wanted to hear. It meant that they'd hit an unexpected obstacle that they came unprepared for.

Six was worried that that is what's going to happen, that they might hit a snag. The Spartan quickly ignored that shred of doubt. They would adapt. Hesitation can get any soldier killed. But it can also be a life saver.

The Spartan quickly checked his loadout one last time.

He brought with him a M-15 Vindicator, M-27 Scimitar, Magnum sidearm and Type 25 plasma rifle as a last resort weapon.

The vindicator was somewhat similar to the battle rifle, though it fired a five round burst at nine hundred rounds per minute. It behaved similar to that of its UNSC counterpart; precise, hard hitting, and generally reliable at all ranges.

Still, Six would prefer the battle rifle. It fired a three round burst at a blistering fifteen hundred rounds per minute. The purpose of that is when the weapon fires, all three bullets exit the barrel so quickly, that the weapon's recoil doesn't throw off the accuracy of the burst. This ensures that all three rounds hit the same point on a target, increasing its effectiveness as an armor defeating weapon.

For what it's worth, it'd be a good idea to start getting used to the new weapons and to study their advantages and disadvantages.

Next, the scimitar was an assault shotgun with a higher rate of fire than traditional pump action shotguns. It's damage may be a little lackluster, but its rate of fire would be a godsend in a target rich close quarters environment such as the one that they are currently heading to.

Six also strapped a bandolier of grenades around his waist. They were all Alliance issued grenades as the Spartan didn't want to expend his own grenades so quickly. He had a combination of frag grenades and flashbangs, as well as a trio of incendiary grenades just in case.

Besides that, the super soldier of course carried plenty of thermal clips, magazines, medical supplies and so on.

If there is one thing the lone wolf learned in his lifetime as a soldier, it's that one can never find themselves too prepared.

Six's comm channel suddenly opened up. "ETA to touch down, sixty seconds," informed the shuttle's pilot rather lamely.

Six, looked up from his weapon and examined the team.

Shepard appeared to be calm and collected, no doubt a veteran of dozens of missions similar to this one. He gave an air of confidence that flowed to all of his subordinates in a way that Six usually doesn't see in a leader. The determination in the man's piercing brown eyes all but screamed success, and Six found himself glad that this was his commanding officer, his leadership skills almost reminded him of Carter.

Miranda was almost emotionless.

Almost.

Her wooden expression was certainly something that would make a carpenter blush, but Six has spent years reading the expressions of practically robotic super soldiers through a thousand pounds of armor based on vague body language alone. Reading the woman's expression took no effort for the stoic soldier.

She was confident, yet irritated it seemed.

Judging by that conversation Six had with her, she seemed like a spook, and spooks thrive on information. Not knowing enough about the mission must be grating on her nerves. The Spartan didn't blame her though, he also didn't like the situation.

Jacob, like the commander, also seemed very calm. Although Six could see that the soldier was on edge slightly.

The mercenary, Zaeed, seemed intent on burning a hole through his rifle with that glare of his. At first glance, the weapon seemed to be in working order. Of course, determining a weapon's functionality simply by looking over its surface was impractical, so why was the man irritated?

It didn't matter, as long as the mercenary kept his emotions in check and remained a valuable asset, then the Spartan would be satisfied.

The only non human of the assault team, Grunt, was giddy, excited it seemed at the idea of combat.

Six raised an eyebrow at that but didn't think anything else of it. Thoughts not related to the mission are a waste and can endanger the team. Though he will keep an eye on the krogan should his excitement become a problem.

The hyper lethal vector was cut off from his thoughts when he felt the ship shudder slightly from landing; it was time to go.

"Six, take point, we'll be right behind you," said Shepard, his left hand gestured the Spartan to do so, and the armored behemoth followed the order without hesitation.

Six shouldered his vindicator and stepped out of the shuttle, his head was on a swivel, quickly and efficiently scanning every square inch of the dense forest that surrounded the vessel.

To the common spectator, the forest would have been seen as beautiful, like something out of a fairytale. Massive one hundred foot trees covered the landscape for hundreds of square kilometers in every direction.

The trees blocked out most of the sunlight but allowed some visible rays of light through to reflect off of the stream of pure water fifteen meters in front of the Spartan.

In the eyes of the Spartan, the forest was just another factor that could aid or hinder their progress. It's ability to provide excellent camouflage could cover their advance but it could also allow the enemy to ambush them if they somehow get detected without noticing.

Six looked down at his motion tracker and frowned. The forest was alive with activity. Birds and small land animals were crawling and flying from tree to tree, unseen to the naked eye, but not to the motion tracker. Dozens of red dots moved around on his motion tracker; it was completely useless in this environment, which meant that the Spartan will have to rely more on Sigma and his own eyes.

"We've still got two hundred meters until we get to the sewer entrance marked by EDI, let's go," suggested the commander in a calm, slightly quiet voice.

Six instinctively took point, not wanting to risk his lighter armored teammates getting hit first. They moved at a brisk pace through the trees in a staggered line formation. Every inch of the forest was scanned for hostiles.

None were found.

"Sigma, what's our status?" whispered the lone wolf within the confines of his helmet.

" _I'm picking up hostiles one hundred fifty meters, thirty degrees left. Looks like a full squad of ten,"_ informed the AI, instantaneously, as if Six didn't even need to ask.

Six switched his visor to thermal and sure enough, there they were, exactly were Sigma described them to be. The Spartan did a quick check on their awareness and weapons before relaying the information to Shepard.

"Commander, ten hostiles, one hundred fifty meters, thirty degrees left, rifle squad configuration. They are unaware of our presence," said the Spartan mechanically.

"Hold," the Spartan did so and pointed his weapon at the unaware hostiles but he didn't fire.

The super human's sensitive ears picked up the soft shuffle of boots on soil, he turned his head slightly to the left and saw the commander crouched slightly behind them. The man gave a critical gaze over Six's shoulder in the aforementioned direction and cocked his head to the side.

"I can't see them Six, how close are they to our entrance?" the commander sounded suspicious, he didn't know the full extent of Mike's capabilities… he doesn't need to.

"Hostiles are now forty degrees left, they are maintaining a steady velocity of two meters per second away from the infil point. We're cleared to move up commander," confirmed Six, his eyes still coldly stared at the Batarians as if he were some hungry predator, stalking his prey from a distance.

Six heard the commander grunt in the affirmative before gesturing over Mike's shoulder for him to continue on his course towards their entrance.

The Spartan did so, and his near silent footsteps were masked by several more as the rest of the squad's feet silently pounded on dirt.

"Sigma, is the contingency plan ready?" questioned Mike in a tone that would have made a geth blush, if such a thing were possible.

" _Of course Six, all I need is your primitive physical body to carry me to the right destination, and then I will make sure that the batarians are in for a nasty surprise,"_ Six hoped that it wouldn't come to it, there could be several consequences including Sigma's presence being known.

They continued their short trek until he spotted the entrance to the base's sewer. It was a concrete pipe about two and a half meters in height and width; large enough for the Spartan's massive bulk thankfully, but certainly not something Mike would want to get caught in by the batarians.

The pipe's location was very subtle however; only half a meter of it was sticking out of the smooth hill that it was embedded in. It was covered in moss that stuck to it like some sort of uncontrollable infestation. Thick five inch steel bars prevented any outsiders access to the stronghold's weak point.

The squad cautiously approached the entrypoint and stopped no less than three meters from it.

Six did a complete one hundred eighty degree turn and watched the direction they came from, he wasn't going to let the enemy have access to their most vulnerable spot, not if he had anything to say about it.

"Six," said Shepard. "See if you can break through this."

Mike looked over his shoulder in question and saw the commander pointing at the metal bars in the same way a child would to a piece of candy that he desperately wanted.

Mike only offered a slight nod before placing his rifle on the magnetic holster on his back. He covered the three meter distance in three steps and momentarily examined the obstacle.

A good dozen of the thick iron bars all evenly spaced.

Six nodded to himself before gripping the two closest bars in the center. Mike squeezed to get a good grip and felt the metal slowly being crushed beneath his monstrous strength. Without a second thought, the superhuman pulled the two bars apart from each other with so much ease, that the bars might as well have been cardboard for all the good they did.

The Spartan repeated this action four more times, effortlessly moving the obstacle out of the way, and simultaneously hoping that the batarians don't hear the sound of metal warping and being crushed.

"Commander, infil point is clear," Shepard turned around and examined the Spartan's handiwork with a bit of surprise on his face. Shepard nodded and motioned for the Spartan to take point.

"Damn, I'd say it smells like shit in here… but that would be an understatement," commented Jacob as the squad entered the sewer. The man sounded as if he were about to hurl.

"Fuckin' four eyed bastards smell worse than a vorcha on bloody laxatives," growled Zaeed between coughs.

Mike was tempted to roll his eyes at this lack of professionalism but refrained from doing so. His air filtration system was off so the super soldier's nose was exposed to the scent of the sewer.

Six had to admit, the smell of fecal matter isn't desirable. But even then, it's no obstacle to the mission and thus shouldn't be treated as one. The bickering of these two grown men isn't helpful at all.

Everyone remained silent after Zaeed's remark, and only the sounds audible in the sewer is the sound of splashing water and a suspicious 'squishing' sound when ever Six's half ton boots found purchase on the ground.

" _Two hundred meters and closing, Six. I'm detecting a dozen hostiles on the other side, be ready,"_ Six inaudibly grunted in satisfaction at Sigma's nearly unparalleled ability to acquire valuable information in the span of a few nanoseconds and continued along the predetermined course.

No one was expecting trouble in the sewer of all places, but everyone had their weapons trained on their twelve O'clock; better safe than sorry.

"So, what happens when half the batarians decide to pile on top of us when things get hectic. I don't know about you guys, but getting slaughtered by a battalion of four eyed aliens in an underground fortress is definitely not something I want happening," Six spared a glance at the owner of the voice; Jacob.

He was nervous, that much was obvious. To him, this was a suicide mission. But to Six, it was more of a light lunch. They'd never comprehend a Spartan's life.

"Don't worry Jacob, this should be a quick raid, EDI will guide us to the server room. Once we get the required intel, we'll be out quicker than we got in," Grunt seemed to quietly growl at the commander's statement, Six found this odd.

"Shepard, we can't possibly pass up an opportunity like this to kill all of the batarians in a glorious battle," ah, now it makes sense.

Mike didn't hear anything from the commander initially, but he was almost certain that the man had an unamused expression underneath that helmet of his.

"Grunt… this isn't about that, it's about protecting the Systems Alliance. If we all stay in here too long, then no one is getting out alive," retorted the commander in an exasperated tone.

"Cowardly squishies…" muttered the krogan in a mixture of stubbornness and defeat.

" _Krogan are known for their gungho, blood thirsty behaviour, Six. This can be useful but also a burden… you better keep and eye on him,"_ warned Sigma.

The Spartan didn't need to be told twice however. He's been eyeing the krogan ever since he got aboard the Normandy. Grunt seemed to be more of a ticking time bomb rather than a special forces operator, they didn't need that, especially on an operation as delicate as this where one slip up can result in the entire team paying for it.

Humanity's safety matters, and even if it isn't technically his humanity, Six is willing to go through the horrifically unethical lowground to accomplish it… he's been there dozens of times, so what's to stop him from doing it again?

Six's eyes shifted to his HUD for a quick millisecond in order to determine whether to go left or right on an upcoming deadend.

Left.

Six followed the directions and thought he saw a light up ahead. He squinted his eyes and realized that that is where the sewer ends. There were metal rungs connected to the concrete wall that led up to the source of the light.

With a series of blinks, the Spartan's range finder quickly calculated the distance; one hundred and fifty meters.

"Commander, we are one hundred and fifty meters away from infil completion, no contacts visible at this time, recommend we maintain stealth until we are in an advantageous position to confront the hostiles unless hard contact is prematurely initiated," offered the Spartan in a quiet mechanical tone.

"Understood Six, though I'm not sure how we'll get out of the sewer undetected," replied the commander in a skeptical voice.

The Spartan heard the unmistakable sound of Grunt chuckling and frowned.

"No offense, but I can't see you of all people moving about unseen," drawled Miranda, almost sardonically in a way.

Six had a gut feeling that Miranda was attempting to learn more about his capabilities with these seemingly harmless statements.

He decided to keep things very vague.

"I'm well trained in stealth ma'am, my armor's bulk and weight will not limit me,"

"I'm still skeptical, that suit must weigh a lot, too much for even a skilled stealth artist to move about easily without detection. You can easily jeopardize the mission if you fail," Six ignored the comment; it has no meaning on the battlefield. If Miranda wanted to try and peer pressure Six with petty questions or statements, then that was fine with him. Mike will do the mission even if they are one team member short… or if he was alone.

"That's enough Miranda, I don't think Six would lie about his abilities in a situation as volatile as this one," said Shepard with an aura of finality that brooked no argument.

After about ninety seconds of silently walking through the sewer, the team finally made it just below their way out of the sewer. The only obstacle preventing them from exiting the horrendously smelling place was a metal disk about a meter and a half in diameter with two dozen holes in it that allowed the artificial light through.

The Spartan-III placed his weapon on his back and placed his left foot on the bottom rung. Six put pressure on said rung and slowly increased it. The rung didn't budge; good, it was capable of supporting his weight.

Without a moment's hesitation, the Spartan carefully climbed up towards the top, he strained his ears but heard nothing. Mike's eyes examined his motion tracker and noticed over a dozen red dots scattered all over the place; hostiles.

" _Don't worry Six, they still don't know you're here, if you are quick enough, you could get out of the sewer undetected,"_ offered Six's digital friend in a voice that was completely oblivious to any skepticism or worry, such was the attitude of any living or non living being when relying on the skills of a Spartan.

"Commander, scanning for hostiles, standby," at that statement, the lone wolf searched through his kit and found what he was looking for; a fiber optic probe.

The fiber optic wire was no thicker than three millimeters, and the camera was just as thin, visually detecting the device would take a keen eye. He was relying on the batarians' relaxed state and lack of discipline to further increase the chances of them not seeing the probe.

With a gentleness that would have seemed impossible given the Spartan's size and strength, Six slowly slipped the probe through one of the holes, so as to not alert any hostiles with sudden movements.

Six then connected the camera's view to his hud, a small screen popped up in the top left hand corner of his hud. What he was looking at had to be some kind of large storage room. By Six's estimate, the room had to be seventy meters long and fifty meters wide. The ceiling was likely fifteen meters from the floor.

Several crates of varying sizes were spread out throughout the room. Six spotted the door they had to get through about fifty meters away from their exit. Ten meters above the door was a catwalk connected to the wall behind it. It was occupied by five guards all in varying positions of idleness. Several guards were patrolling throughout the rest of the room.

This environment seemed pretty barren. One interesting detail was the fact that the walls were metallic rather than concrete like the surface structures. Higher quality material usually meant higher quality assets to defend here.

After that brief analysis, Six disconnected the probe from his hud and slowly pulled it back through the hole. After ensuring all of his equipment is secured, Six made sure to inform his teammates.

"Sir, hostile presence confirmed, at least a dozen tangos present in varying positions of patrol and static defense. Five hostiles are positioned on a catwalk directly above an armored door fifty meters to the south, remainder of enemy forces are spread thin patrolling the storage room," informed Six in a clear voice that all but demanded the undivided attention of all present.

The commander didn't reply, likely pondering the information relayed to him by Mike.

Six pondered the information too. If it was him alone, the Spartan would have simply sneaked past all of the defenses, acquired the intel, and then sabotaged the base. But his teammates aren't Spartans and likely aren't skilled enough for sneaking through a stronghold like this, especially with a krogan in tow.

They needed to go loud, but the team would be vulnerable getting out of the sewer. They needed a distraction. Luckily, Six had the perfect plan.

"Sir, permission to engage hostiles alone in order to provide a distraction for the rest of the team,"

"Six… I don't want to send you out alone, I don't care if you are a super soldier or not," replied Shepard, his concern was obvious enough, but Six didn't understand why the man was worried.

"Shepard, he's right, we run the risk of getting picked off one by one if everyone rushes out," said Miranda.

Shepard seemed to think about it for a second, before sighing in resignation.

"Fine, but be careful Six. We'll engage as soon as you start trading shots," Six nodded, satisfied.

Six turned off his external speakers momentarily.

"Sigma, am I cleared to move?"

" _Standby, I've hacked their camera feed and put it on a repeating loop, they're useless to them now, I'll let you know when you're clear,"_ assured the AI.

Six's muscles tensed as he readied himself for Sigma to confirm that he is safe to leave the cover of the sewer.

" _Go!"_

In the blink of an eye, the Spartan pushed the metal plate out of the way and shot up out of the sewer, replacing the cover on the sewer milliseconds later.

Without a moment's notice, the Spartan vanished into thin air as his armor's active camouflage hid him from all but the most keen eye. The Spartan examined the catwalk and deduced that achieving higher ground would be the best course of action.

Like a demon straight out of the batarians' folklore, the Spartan stalked closer and closer to his intended prey.

They would be dead before they even knew it.

* * *

 _Wait for it…_

The silence was deafening, Shepard could have sworn that he could hear the heartbeats of every single one of his teammates in the sewer.

It has been thirty seconds since the Spartan left to provide them with a 'distraction', and despite his training as an N7 operative, Shepard was growing restless. The ex spectre had to guess that the stress of successfully pulling off such an audacious mission would make anyone restless, but still…

And just like that, the steady staccato of vindicator fire outright killed the silence like a shotgun would to a pyjak. It was so sudden that Shepard waited a second in confusion before the staccato was followed by a heavy stream of more than a dozen automatic weapons opening up at the same time.

"Everyone out of the sewer, move it!" bellowed the commander over the shrill sound of an alarm that suddenly pierced through the sounds of battle.

Shepard pushed the plate off of the entrance, he lunged forward in the direction of the gunfire and slammed his physical body into the closest crate. Shepard heard the rest of his team take up position around him but paid it no mind. The commander peaked up over the crate.

He saw the Spartan standing up on the catwalk accompanied by five limp corpses. The soldier's weapon blurred as he fired down upon the batarians, dropping two of them hiding behind one of the large crates on the far left.

Shepard didn't hesitate with his next actions, the veteran shouldered his avenger rifle, took aim at one of the batarians, and fired.

Several exceptionally accurate bursts impacted the biped's back. The rounds tore through his barrier and eventually punctured his vital organs, as well as shredding his spinal cord. Blood splattered onto the medium sized crate that was protecting him from the Spartan's wrath.

The rest of Shepard's team advanced forward, unleashing their own automatic hell upon the distracted enemies. It didn't take long for the opposition to realise that they were surrounded, most of them spun around with comical expressions of shock.

Shepard almost smirked in grim satisfaction as his biotics ensnared a poor soldier in the ebon fields. With a mere flick of his wrist, the pirate was flung to the right. He impacted the wall with a crunch inaudible among the sounds of combat.

"Six, what's your status?" demanded the ex spectre as he dropped another batarian and took cover for a much needed reload.

" _Green, sir. Standby, hostiles approaching on your twelve O'clock,"_ replied the super soldier.

Shepard cocked an eyebrow and peaked over his cover.

Sure enough, the armored door in front of them opened and a dozen more hostiles rushed out to face the invaders. Shepard frowned; if they kept sending this many enemies at them, then they'll never get to their objective.

Luckily, Noble Six didn't seem to agree with their current predicament..

The large human shouldered his shotgun and jumped down onto the pirates. Shepard winced as his massive weight fell down upon the head of one of the hostiles, effectively turning it into a fine pulp. The human blurred and the sound of the scimitar's boom resonated throughout the room.

Shepard sighted up one of the newcomers and fired a burst of his own. The rounds instantly hit the soldier in the head, shearing through his barrier and puncturing his head. Blood showered a companion directly behind the falling corpse.

The batarians furthest from the black, deadly blur, were turned into swiss cheese by the rest of the assault team, the humanoids' armor and barriers didn't stand a chance against the concentrated fire.

The final survivor was flung into the door courtesy of Six. The batarian instantly died after impacting said door with a wet crunch.

"Six, how did you know they were coming?" questioned the commander suspiciously.

The Spartan merely cycled a new thermal clip into his shotgun before shouldering his rifle. "Classified,"

 _Of course._

The commander barely managed to stop himself from facepalming before gesturing the armored killing machine to take point and lead to assault team into overwhelming odds.

Like a well trained guard dog, the soldier spun around and moved at a brisk pace towards the door followed by the rest of the team. The motion activated door however didn't seem to care about the presence of unidentified lifeforms and thus remained shut.

"Bloody hell, the door's not working, how do we get through that?" said Miranda, unknowingly voicing most of the team's thoughts.

Shepard examined the keypad on the left of the door and frowned; simply put, it was shot to shit.

"Damn, we'll have to find another way…" the commander trailed off as Six holstered his weapon and ran his fingers along the middle of the door where its two main pieces meet. Without a second thought the super soldier plunged his armoured gauntlets into the thick armored door. They easily pierced through and the Spartan began to pull.

In absolute shock, Shepard watched the door groan in protest and spray Six with sparks as the multiton heavy duty door was pulled apart little by little with such strength that it would have made a geth prime look like a lightly built highschool nerd.

The soldier didn't even grunt or struggle for that matter when he spoke, arms holding the door apart on each side of his body.

"Commander, I can hold the door open for the rest of the team," Shepard only nodded dumbly and replied in the affirmative.

He raised his weapon and pushed on past the titan of a man, followed shortly by Jacob, Zaeed, Miranda, and Grunt. Shepard was surprised that the krogan somehow managed to fit his massive bulk in between the Spartan and the door.

The enigmatic soldier let go of the door and took position in front of the team. Said door slid shut with a massive metallic 'thud', the sheer force of the action made the floor shudder heavily.

"Move up," ordered the commander.

Shepard and crew in tow followed the heavily armored human along the predetermined course that would lead them directly to the server room, moving at a faster than usually pace so as to not get trapped by the opposition.

The halls were large; ten meters wide and half as tall. They seemed to be the only lifeforms in the general area, which didn't make sense to the commander considering how much personnel this stronghold is occupied by.

"You think they just got up and left?" whispered Jacob distractedly, his experience as a soldier ensuring that almost every fiber of his existence is focused on the prospect of encountering threats along the way.

"Yeah, I was thinking that as well, I must have given them quite the scare," chuckled Zaeed despite their dire situation.

This elicited a not so friendly growl from the hulking lizard. "They better not have, not when the battle is so glorious."

Shepard scrutinized the map to make sure that they were on the right track. They were, good. They just had to keep going straight, through the mess hall next to the barracks and-

Wait…

"EDI, why the hell are we being pointed in the direction of the troop barracks?" growled Shepard almost like a feral animal.

" _Commander, that is the quickest way to get to the server room, taking any other route would increase the time that the batarians have to fully mobilize,"_ deadpanned the AI, appearing as if not caring at all about the dangerous predicament the team was about to encounter.

"Damn. Well, remember how I specifically made an emphasis on shock and awe? We are definitely giving it a whole new meaning, no one hold back," ordered the commander through clenched teeth.

The sentient beings in his squad all collectively replied in the affirmative. That mere action calmed Shepard down; they were ready, none would stay in the way for long against the unstoppable force that was the ground team of the Normandy.

Shepard found himself and the rest of the team stacked up against the wall that separated them from the mess hall, which was probably loaded with troops by now.

"Six, do you… see anything?" questioned the commander hesitantly; he wasn't quite sure how the Spartan managed to detect the hostiles before anyone else did.

"Affirmative, several dozen hostiles are on the other side, likely taking up defense positions," replied the titan in his usual deadpan.

Shepard frowned, he didn't expect them to mobilize so quickly. If they were lucky, then maybe they aren't fully expecting them to burst through so early, perhaps they could be caught off guard.

They had no choice, either they clean these bastards up as fast as possible, or they get sandwiched between the batarians when more decide to show up behind them.

After several long seconds of dedicated thinking, the commander nodded to himself.

"Six, flashbang on my mark. Miranda, I want you to cover all of us with a biotic barrier from the initial return fire from anyone not affected by the flashbang. I want everyone else to spread out and find some cover,"said the commander, rather frantically considering the fact that time is becoming a rarer and rarer resource.

Shepard got a series of nods for a response. He pressed his left shoulder against the wall and fingered his rifle. His adrenaline levels spiked and he felt a massive boost of energy practically electrocute him into action.

The commander looked across him and saw Six in a similar position, his left gauntlet was clutching a flashbang and his right gauntlet held his rifle.

Never one to be found unprepared.

Shepard waved his omnitool over the door, and was rewarded with the simply one tap command needed to open it.

With this realization, the ex spectre hit the button and the door began to open.

"Mark!" the flashbang was lobbed through the door towards the waiting opponents. There was a brief second before a loud 'bang' was heard followed by the sound of several panicking batarians.

Without any hesitation, Miranda's biotic barrier sprang up to life and caught the incoming fire from those not affected from the non lethal grenade.

Shepard rushed into the room firing blindly in hopes of suppressing the enemy while he finds suitable cover. Shepard moved further to the right and kicked over one of the dozens of thick metallic tables in the mess hall. The ex spectre ducked in time to avoid the fire the now made it past Miranda's no longer operational biotic barrier.

Shepard brought his rifle to bare on the hostiles, he fired. The rifle kicked against the man's shoulder as a torrent of fire ripped through an unsuspecting soldier that was still recovering from the flashbang. The alien's head was punctured easily and blood splattered on the ground before the corpse followed soon after.

The mess hall was huge, it had to be eighty by eighty meters, a perfect square. There was dozens of batarians taking cover behind overturned tables, more of them were pouring out of the two doors on the other side of the massive room.

There was no way that they can clear out a company sized force quick enough before they get trapped. The commander thought about their predicament.

They were outnumbered heavily, but they had a krogan and human super soldier along with several biotic users and a savage mercenary.

Shepard almost smiled as the simple yet effective idea slowly drew itself in his head.

"Everyone prep a flashbang and be ready to throw them on my mark," ordered the commander in a stern voice as he fired several more bursts at the enemy to keep them at bay. Two more of the aliens fell to the commander.

Shepard didn't bother checking to make sure that everyone was ready; there was no time. Besides, he knew they _were_ ready.

"Now!" bellowed the human into the comms while silently hoping he didn't burst anyone's eardrums with that display of vocal power.

Shepard threw his flashbang and watched several more soar through the air, these flashbangs had quite the effective range. The commander hoped that most of the hostiles will be temporarily combat ineffective, otherwise the entire team will end up looking more like smelly swiss cheese rather than sentient bipeds.

The grenades clattered and bounced off the ground before exploding. The loud bangs were easily heard over the cacophony of gunfire and the effect was near instant.

Most of the gunfire died down with the batarians screaming in anger, shock, or panic and uttering what Shepard could only assume are very vile curses in their language.

"Everyone, move up! We're going close quarters on this one!" exclaimed the commander, his legs already carrying him towards the hostiles before he even finished his order.

Shepard rushed forward exuding a fury only present in the most battle hardened soldiers.

Shepard allowed his biotics to carry him forward at speeds that any normal human couldn't hope to achieve as he barreled down on a trio of the disoriented soldiers.

Any _normal_ human.

Shepard momentarily found himself paralyzed in shock as a black blur shot past him moving at several times his speed. Said blur charged into a group of batarians no bigger than half a dozen.

Fire from the scimitar and the use of impossible physical superiority resulted in the soldiers getting holes blown in their chests from the scimitar or simply being pummeled to death.

 _No human should be able to move that fast._

Shepard shook himself out of his shock and focused on the batarians in front of him. With what amounted to no effort at all, Shepard suspended the soldiers ten feet off of the ground with his biotics, the ebon energy coursed through them and overall made their combat effectiveness quite laughable.

Shepard didn't smile however as he riddled the helpless pirates and allowed their limp corpses to fall to the ground.

"SHEPARD!"

The commander's head snapped to the direction of his name being called and feasted his eyes upon an amusing scene.

Grunt lunged at a speed that was impressive for his size and reeled back his fist. The offending batarian's mouth opened in shock and fear. Said fist impacted the alien's face and sent the corpse flying four meters back.

The krogan then fired his shotgun on his twelve O'clock and caught an unprepared soldier at close range. The super heated sand grain sized projectiles impacted almost instantly, and the batarian's head exploded propelling bone and brain matter in every direction.

The krogan stared at Shepard with a grin that bared teeth.

"Your kill count is lower than usual battlemaster, I think you are falling behind. Proof that no human can truly beat a krogan," Grunt chuckled before reloading his shotgun.

The commander looked around the krogan and was surprised to already see a good ten corpses pilin around the large lizard.

Shepard stared at Grunt with an amused expression before turning in the general direction of the most chaotic section of the room.

Noble Six continued fighting without slowing down at all, not even caring about the soldiers that would rush out into the mess hall occasionally as if their army was endless. Dozens of corpses lied dead on the ground due to his machine like efficiency.

Shepard still couldn't help but be amazed at the soldier's lethality.

The commander turned around to face Grunt again, who was now staring at Shepard with his shotgun resting on his shoulder, expecting a retort from the human soldier.

Shepard grinned. "Oh I don't _know_ Grunt," drawled the commander lazily. "Looks to me that Six is putting your kill count to shame, I think you should up the ante if you want to beat him. _If_ you can beat him."

The krogan momentarily watched the Spartan slaughtering the batarians. His grin changed into a frown so quickly, that Shepard had to do a double take to make sure that his eyes weren't playing tricks on him.

The krogan growled and shouldered his shotgun before charging headfirst into the batarians without saying another word.

Shepard chuckled; they should have no problem getting through these pirates now.

"Commander, don't suppose you could lend a hand couldn you?" called out an exasperated Miranda. Shepard turned to his right and saw the Cerberus operative launching a pair of pirates into the air before gunning them down.

 _Right, time to focus._

The commander shouldered his rifle and pushed forward past the corpses. There was still so many targets that the commander didn't bother with prioritization. He simply sighted up the closest hostile and fired, blood oozed out from the half dozen wounds and the soldier danced a deadly macabre on his way to the cold metal floor.

One kill became two, then four, then eight. Even with the help of the Spartan, they just kept coming like some kind of unending tide.

" _Commander, we're getting nowhere with this, either we change up our plan or we get overrun,"_ growled Jacob over the comms.

He was right, they were in a tight spot, and at this rate they'll run out of ammo very quickly.

The commander's tactical mind went to work whilst he continued to gun down anyone stupid enough to rush the veteran, or simply tear up a squad with his biotics.

EDI was running interference for the kodiak using her hacking skills combined with the Normandy's advanced subsystems. He assigned her that role long before the debriefing and the AI's help was instrumental.

But now the commander realized that they might need the artificial intelligence's assistance again.

"EDI, do you read me?" growled the commander in a tone that made the question sound more like a demand than anything else.

" _Yes commander, how may I be of assistance?"_

Shepard ducked further down behind his cover to avoid another particularly nasty torrent of suppressive fire.

"EDI, we're having some difficulty getting past the mess hall, too many hostiles, I need you to hack in their systems and see if you can shut down their entry points," the commander waited for a response.

" _Commander, their systems are very advanced, jamming their tracking equipment is already quite taxing, I will have to leave the kodiak temporarily vulnerable in order to infiltrate their systems,"_ deadpanned the AI.

Shepard inaudibly growled, he can't risk the kodiak and those onboard it. If the kodiak is destroyed, then they'll be staying on this planet regardless of whether they complete the objective or not.

"Maintain the kodiak's concealment from detection EDI, we'll find another way," said Shepard.

The commander scanned the miniature battlefield with a critical eye and observed the dire situation before him. Jacob and Zaeed were holding their own just fine on the left flank. Those two were each hiding behind an overturned table and were in the process of making short work of a Batarian squad. Shepard nodded in satisfaction and examined his position; the right flank.

Miranda was to his right, utilizing her biotics and skills with a weapon into a deadly cocktail of tactical superiority Shepard watched a particularly unlucky Batarian getting launched into the bulkhead across the room by the ebon energies.

Again… their flanks were all solid.

But they shouldn't be. By all rights they should be fighting for their lives against wave after wave of the bastards. Shepard's focus shifted to the middle of the room. Grunt was mauling through the weaker bipeds with ruthless abandon, like a bunch of thirteen year olds going toe to toe with an eight hundred pound gorilla. One 'lucky' pirate earned an interesting farewell gift prior to his entry to the afterlife in the form of a nine hundred pound krogan boot crushing his skull into a fine pulp.

Grunt seemed to be attracting more attention, which made sense since he _is_ a krogan.

But where is Six?

Ah… of course.

The commander looked at the far side of the mess hall where the neverending tide of batarians originated from and openly gaped.

The armored behemoth switched from cover to cover, from target to target so quickly, that it displayed a gratefulness that even the god of war himself would would envy. Like a machine graced with the speed of impossible supernatural origin, the Spartan seemed to be in several locations at once, slaughtering the batarians so quickly, that many of them didn't even fire a shot before getting cut down.

What manner of warrior is this? That he could hold against overwhelming odds like this? What kind of training did he go through, what did he experience to mold him into the soldier he is?

Shepard shook his head; it was time focus on the mission, he'll think about this afterwards.

The commander looked at the Spartan one last time, before looking at the rest of his team and then the situation they were in as a whole. It then occurred to him that perhaps he did have an idea, on that might require the Spartan's full cooperation, and as much as it pains him to put others at risk, he knew that they needed to get out of this place and push forward.

 _Let's see what you're really made of._

* * *

It never occured to Mike how many lives he has ended. Over the course of his extensive military career, the sentient beings he slaughtered became so numerous, that he ended up losing count a long, _long_ time ago.

This was just another one of those days, where the deaths just blur together, where counting them holds no true purpose.

They just kept coming, their actions fueled by money and vengeance, not duty or honour. They had no discipline, less so than the insurrectionists Six slaughtered over the years. But the Spartan had to admit, the insurrectionists didn't have kinetic barriers or armor that was this effective. It didn't matter. The Spartan trusted that the commander had a plan. He was hoping that the rest of the team could keep up.

The lone wolf pulled the trigger, and another pirate's head exploded like a watermelon. A roundhouse kick caught another unfortunate soul in the gut, suffice to say, the organs probably looked more like something that would come out of a meat processing plant rather than functioning organs.

" _Six, do you read me?"_ It was commander Shepard's voice, the Spartan quickly rolled out of the way of a grenade and ducked behind a table. The device exploded harmlessly.

"Affirmative sir, I read you, how copy over?" replied the Spartan calmly as he cycled a thermal clip into his vindicator.

" _Six, we're in a bit of a tight spot here. But I may have an idea on how to get us out of this,"_ replied the soldier in what sounded like a slight growl. The Spartan risked a glance behind him and saw the commander gunning down a pair of batarians biotically suspended in the air

"Standing by," said Mike.

" _Look, Six, I hate to say this but you'll need to be a distraction so that the rest of the team can push through the right entrance. Do anything, and I really mean anything that you think is necessary in order to draw their attention so that the rest of the team can get through. Once I let you know that we made it, I want you to run like hell and fall back to our position…. Understood?"_

Without hesitation, the Spartan accepted the plan for what it is; a simple strategy birthed from the adaptation fueled by desperation. It was a plan that Six himself would have developed had he been the team leader… with himself as the bait.

"Understood commander, Move to the door in T-minus five seconds," replied the Spartan nonchalantly.

" _You know what that means Six… no holding back,"_ muttered Sigma warily, Six did not understand the reason for Sigma's tone but he couldn't care about that right now.

Six only grunted in the affirmative before unclipping an incendiary from his supply belt, one in each hand. If the Spartan was going to get their attention, he was going to be the scariest thing in the room. The fight or flight response will instinctively demand that the batarians focus on the biggest threat… these grenades will make him more noticable.

Without a second thought, the super soldier primed both grenades and lobbed them towards the massive group of batarians. The devices clattered on the floor before exploding.

There was a soft explosion before each grenade enveloped an area with a diameter of fifteen meters in a blinding orange cloud of a lethal napalm adherent compound that burned at over 1200 degrees celsius.

A few dozen batarians where consumed in the fiery holocaust, they ran around the room or rolled around on the ground kicking and emitting blood curdling screams that would haunt even the most battle hardened veterans until their final days.

Flesh and skin was turned to ash and bone was charred. Weapons and armor slowly melted and was fused to the skin of its wielders in some kind of twisted mockery of the sickest experiments known to man. The Spartan didn't react at all to the horrific scene as he gunned down those that weren't enveloped by the sticky napalm that continues to burrow into the skin of the unfortunate soldiers.

And just like that, every single hostile in the room turned their focus on the Spartan… a monster of unparalleled cruelty in their eyes.

Six moved from cover to cover ignoring the shield indicator that showed his first line of defense slowly dwindling as a result of the concentrated yet inaccurate fire.

Six unclipped a frag grenade and lobbed it at another squad of fresh hostiles, followed by a second grenade on the left flank, and then a third grenade on the right. The placement of the grenades were effective and the Spartan found his body count increasing by a little more than a squad and a half. Not only that, but every single gun in the room, save for those on his team, were pointed directly at him.

Good.

" _Six? Now would be a good time to start moving,"_ warned a particularly concerned AI.

But the Spartan didn't need to be told twice, despite the amazing durability of MJOLNIR, standing still while getting peppered by dozens of automatic weapons will only help the enemy and not him.

And so Six moved.

He didn't hold back, the adrenaline pumping through his blood pushed his body to redefine the meaning of speed in this universe. The Batarians looked like they were neck deep in quicksand as they tried to move, or in other words, it looked like they were hardly moving at all.

Six's rifle barked, sending two five round bursts into the head of each soldier, the first burst would weaken the barrier and the second burst would destroy the barrier and puncture the victim's skull and brain.

The offenders on the end of the Spartan's rifle dropped like flies as the super human's gun blurred along with the rest of his body.

The Spartan then shouldered his shotgun while he closed the distance between himself and the enemy. He pulled the trigger and watched one of the batarians stagger back from the force of the impact, a second shot impacted his unshielded torso and peppered his body with impossibly fast projectiles, blood splattered on the ground and the corpse flew back a good two meters.

A second victim fell, then four.

" _Six, on your nine!"_ exclaimed Sigma.

The Spartan whirled around as fast as he possibly could knowing that whatever Sigma saw must have been a serious threat.

The Spartan's eyes locked on to a batarian that was standing about fifty meters away from the super soldier. The pirate hefted a large device onto his shoulder and took aim at the Spartan.

Anti-tank rocket.

Just like that, the rocket shot forward at the Spartan flying at speeds in excess of five hundred meters per second. At this distance, the Spartan had one hundred milliseconds to react…

Child's play considering Six's reaction time is less than ten milliseconds in armor.

The only problem was the missile's tracking system. The ML-77 missile launcher had an impressive friend or foe tracking system, and Six knew that even his speed wouldn't allow him to dodge the missile and spoof its tracking system.

So Mike Settled for the next best thing.

He waited for the missile to approach him and brought his left arm back as he readied himself.

Six's brain kicked into action. He factored in the acceleration, velocity, and net force of the missile based on several reference points he has gathered throughout his extensive military career. Mike then factored in his own reaction time and necessary net force.

And in the span of a few milliseconds, the Spartan's hastily made calculations would soon be tested.

Once the missile was in arm's length, Mike's arm shot forward in a movement that seemed a little blurry even to the Spartan's impossible reflexes.

He felt his arm make contact with the missile and watched it cartwheel into the air before impacting about ten meters to his left. It exploded and left a sizable dent in the metallic floor.

The Spartan felt a tinge of satisfaction before it subsided; he wasn't out of the clear yet. The Spartan's eyes locked back onto the heavy weapons operator and realized how petrified the alien was.

In fact, the entire room was deathly quiet. Has Mike's stunt with the missile really shocked them this much?

The soldier with the rocket launcher simply stood there, shaking like a leaf staring at what was quite possibly the single most dangerous being in the galaxy. Who knew what kind of demon it was comparing Six to from its own culture.

" _Six… we're clear… fall back right now,"_ ordered the commander in a voice that was filled to the brim with astonishment.

The Spartan didn't reply but rushed forward to the door that the team escaped through. The gunfire suddenly picked up from where it left off and the Spartan quickly veered off to the right to tie up a loose end.

The batarian's limbs worked as quickly as was possible, fueled by a fear that petrified him not a moment earlier. He hefted his rocket launcher and desperately tried to reload it not quite denying the fact that the weapon seemed useless against whatever the hell was slaughtering his brethren like helpless livestock.

The pirate, having loaded his rocket launcher, looked up to find the threat…

His eyes widened, threatening to pop out, as he bore witness to the familiar black blur dashing forward towards him.

A millisecond later, the only thing the young soldier knew was darkness.

After eliminating the deadliest threat in the room, Six turned to the left and sprinted to the door that was only fifty meters away from him.

He easily covered the distance in a span of two seconds before skidding to a complete halt in front of his bewildered, and partially horrified, allies.

He spun around and began engaging the pirates that continued to rush towards the team in an unending tide. Mike caught a particularly unfortunate pirate in the throat. The biped collapsed to the floor and began thrashing about as the blood left his throat, leaving him to die a slow death.

The rest of the team followed suit and half a dozen accurate rifles proved to be very effective against the disorganized enemies.

"Commander?" the Spartan's deadpan sounded like more of a statement than an actual question.

"I know Six, hold them back while a seal them off," the Spartan didn't need to be told twice.

Mike lobbed another grenade through the door. The device exploded and supersonic shrapnel tore through barriers, armor, and flesh effortlessly. Six watched the commander wave that strange computer at the door after several seconds of interaction with the device. The door in question closed rather suddenly, cutting off the batarians from the intruders. Shepard then fired a round into the small control pad to the left of the door.

"Ok, that should keep them off of us for now," assured the commander confidently enough that the Spartan was grateful for the man's experience with technology… he didn't want Sigma to reveal himself, not unless the situation demands it.

" _Looks like they left the bulk of their force back there Six. Still, this won't be easy. I'd keep your eyes open for anything if I were you,"_ suggested Sigma from within the confines of MJOLNIR.

Mike didn't respond, knowing that the AI already was aware of the Spartan's acknowledgement of the statement.

"Six," Mike turned to look at the commander, who already had his weapon trained on the direction that they must go.

The hyper lethal only nodded, several lifetimes equivalent of military experience guiding his body to decipher unsaid orders with ease, and perform them perfectly without even thinking about it.

Mike turned around, shouldered his weapon, and lead the rest of his allies further into the depths of the stronghold, ensuring that his armored bulk would protect armed bipeds that he has hardly known at all.

* * *

He was krogan.

That was Grunt's justification for every single trait that he surpasses any 'squishy' in.

He was krogan, stronger, faster, more durable and simply a better warrior in every conceivable way. Not even Shepard can stand up to him.

Why? Because he is krogan.

Grunt emitted a throaty chuckle as his shotgun claimed the life of another one of the pirates.

Had they not been severely outnumbered, the krogan would have deemed this fight too easy and thus not worthy of a mention of any kind.

More of the four eyed bastards rushed through a door on the left a good twenty meters in front of Grunt and began to open fire. The krogan, however, was unfazed as his shotgun unleashed a deadly hailstorm of hypersonic projectiles. They tore through the armor of the krogan's foes and they went limp.

The hallway they were currently fighting through was a good ten meters wide and half as tall, a testament to the size of even the most basic components of this underground stronghold.

But Grunt liked fighting through the linear hallways, they helped funnel all of the enemies towards the muzzle of his shotgun. Grunt took cover in an alcove and quickly cycled a new thermal clip; there was more killing to do.

The krogan grinned and leaned out from behind his cover. He spotted at least ten of the batarians taking cover behind several crates that they seemed to have placed in the middle of the hallway to serve as some kind of pathetic barricade.

Grunt fired a trio of shotgun rounds into the opposition and frowned as the pellets had minimal effect on the enemies at that range. The krogan switched to his assault rifle and shouldered it.

Grunt's frown deepened, and then promptly turned into a scowl as the batarians began dropping like flies.

More stolen kills.

The tank bred turned his head more to the right and saw the large armored human gunning down the pirates with perfect precision.

How does he do it? How does a human outkill a krogan like this? It shouldn't be possible. Anger welled up inside of Grunt. The thought of failing to beat a human in combat is inexcusable.

"They just keep coming…" muttered the darker skinned human- Jacob, that's his name.

Grunt snarled as another batarian was slain by gunfire not his own. The krogan looked behind him and saw the familiar form of commander Shepard moving up to reinforce the tank bred.

The commander's visor stared at the almost pleading look that Grunt directed into the human's eyes.

Grunt suppressed a gleeful grin as the commander sighed in defeat, knowing exactly what the krogan wanted.

"Everyone, suppressive fire on the enemy position, Grunt push forward and overwhelm their position," ordered the commander in a tone that pretty much defined irritation.

The krogan's head snapped back onto the cowards and saw them desperately hide behind the tiny makeshift barricade as the entire team let loose a torrent of automatic fire that only served to suppress and not kill; perfect.

Grunt bellowed a powerful roar and charged forward towards the pinned down pirates.

His powerful leg muscles enabled the giant humanoid to propel himself to speeds faster than anything but a drell or certain geth platforms. The krogan's feet pounded against the metallic floor and loud clangs resonated among the heavy gunfire with each impact.

One of the batarians risked a glance from behind the meter and a half tall crates. Grunt found his grin widening exponentially as he witnessed all four eyes of the pirate widen so much, that they risk popping out of their sockets.

Grunt angled his body so that his right shoulder would be the first to impact and pushed his legs even further.

The tank bred finally closed the distance and slammed his massive nine hundred pound bulk into the makeshift cover. The sound of metal being crushed and warped pierced the slowly dwindling gunfire and the crates that made up the barricade were launched in different directions.

The krogan got a good look at the shocked batarians who haven't even brought up their guns to combat the all too close for comfort threat.

That would be their downfall.

Grunt lashed out with a powerful left hook. It connected with the batarian on the right. The krogan grinned menacingly as he felt the skull shatter beneath his might, the corpse was catapulted against another one of the soldiers.

Grunt roared in an animalistic manner before throwing himself into the opposition. He grabbed the soldier's arm and pulled. The batarian screamed as his shoulder was effortlessly dislocated.

Without hesitation, Grunt grabbed the crippled combatant by the neck and wrenched it, revelling in the sound of its neck snapping like a twig.

The apex predator than turned his sights on the last survivors and charged forward punching, kicking, and biting in a vicious barbaric manner.

They had no chance at all, no squishy could ever hope to take on a krogan in hand to hand combat. The remaining half dozen batarians were ripped to pieces or simply had their bones crushed.

The giant lizard desperately looked around for more prey to slaughter, mouth foaming like some kind of rabid animal.

"That's enough Grunt," the krogan turned around and saw an annoyed Shepard staring at him with a very unamused expression. The krogan brought his fists down to his sides and slowly calmed down, despite being frustrated at the absence of any foes to kill.

"Let's keep moving, the sooner we get to the server room, the sooner we can get out of here," said Shepard, prompting Grunt to internally snarl at the idea of running away from these weaklings.

"Their server room is probably a treasure trove of information, I can't wait to take their servers apart," admitted the Cerberus princess to what sounded like no one in particular but herself.

"Right, so if I'm correct, we gotta push through a security room before reaching the server room itself," said Jacob.

"Yes, that's gonna be the hard part. But we aren't their yet, still gotta keep moving through other parts of the base," replied Shepard in an irritated tone.

Grunt didn't particularly care for the human's reluctance to face glorious combat. But it didn't matter, so long as he got the most kills out of everyone by the time they leave this place.

"Oh great… _more_ pirates," groaned Zaeed.

Grunt grinned.

* * *

Garrus was bored.

Usually that wasn't the case with snipers. Aspiring combatants that chose marksmanship as their main profession will learn very quickly that patience is key. Snipers may find themselves waiting for hours on end, even days if Garrus would count the select times he'd have to wait that long to shoot a target during his time as the infamous Archangel.

But this time, it was different. There was no target that the turian was waiting for. The only thing he was waiting for was for Shepard and the assault team to haul ass back to the kodiak that they were now defending.

Apart from the few very distant patrols, the exfil team hasn't seen anything out of the ordinary, and really, seeing those patrols wasn't out of the ordinary either… it was to be expected.

Garrus was also worried.

It wasn't often that anyone would be put against odds like this. They were trapped underground at the mercy of hundreds of pirates with limited options. The turian would like to believe that they could handle this… but he didn't want to be too confident.

"For fuck sake… if I don't get to kill something soon, I'm gonna lose my shit," Garrus turned over to Jack, who was pacing around next to the kodiak fuming as if anger was a way of life. But the turian imagined that it was to her. There was never really a moment that she _wasn't_ angry.

"Relax, maybe the commander might bring some pirates with him. You know… he isn't really subtle after all," remarked Kasumi, her voice was coy as usual.

"That is true," began Garrus, throwing his own two cents into the conversation. "Kasumi's right, Shepard isn't one for stealth. I think that waiting here would be well rewarding once the pirates follow the team out of the base," while Garrus's voice was very assuring on the outside, on the inside he was secretly wishing that that wasn't the case. The last thing they needed was swarms of the four eyed pricks shooting down the kodiak before it even takes off. It was all for the sake of calming down the psychotic human.

"You better be right," mumbled Jack in a way only a child would. Then again, the girl was fairly young, she has a lot of maturing to do… though she seems to be falling short on that development.

Garrus briefly looked inside the kodiak and found a curious Mordin typing away on his omni tool at speeds that the turian would have gawked at had they not been standing in the middle of a potential free fire zone.

"Mordin? What are you doing?" questioned Garrus incredulously; of all the places the salarian had to sit down to poke at his omni tool, why'd it have to be now?

"Studying the Spartan's combat capabilities. Physical capabilities confirm extensive augmentation. Swiftness of combat operations indicate specialized training. Currently observing armor system. Truly remarkable that such a suit exists without Eezo. But how does it work? Must conduct further analysis," replied the scientist in a fast paced storm of almost incoherent words.

Garrus blinked, he's used to when Mordin gets excited, but it still doesn't lessen his astonishment when the salarian seems to get an overdose adrenal assault on his bloodstream. Really though, Garrus couldn't blame his excitement. The turian was self conscious about the Normandy's suits of armor ever since he laid his eyes upon that power armor. Was the suit standard issue? Garrus felt himself shudder at that thought. He wondered if every soldier of the UNSC was like Six. If every single soldier could take on an army single handedly and they had a million of them. It truly was a terrifying thought, but the turian found himself doubting that that many soldiers of Six's caliber actually exists.

After all, he knew very well that a team of soldiers just like Six could literally bring an era of turmoil for the entire galaxy if they so desired.

" _Uh... Joker to exfil team… can anyone hear me?"_ questioned Joker with an aura of uncertainty.

Garrus cocked his head in confusion before keying his comms to the proper frequency.

"Yeah, Joker? It's Garrus, is something wrong?"

" _Better to ask what isn't wrong. Look, I don't know what the commander is doing down there and I really don't want to know…. Seriously, don't tell me. But he really pissed off the space scum. I've got the Normandy's sensors zeroed in on the interstellar apes and I'm picking up several transmissions… they are calling in for backup. You guys REALLY need to get the hell out of there!"_ Joker, despite his bland attempts at humor, was panicking, and so was Garrus.

"Damn it, I'll inform the commander, thanks Joker!" exclaimed the turian, all notions of boredom gone in an instant and swiftly replaced with a fine mixture of adrenaline and panic.

Without missing a beat, Garrus switched his frequency and frantically attempted to contact the commander.

"Shepard? Shepard! Are you there!?" beckoned the turian in as loud a voice as he dared.

He could hear the distinct sounds of battle with the roar of gunfire and an unhealthy amount of explosions.

" _Garrus? We're in a bit of a tight situation, now's not the best time!"_ retorted the commander in a growl.

"No time Shepard, they've got reinforcements incoming, you guys need to get the hell out of there," urged the turian, praying with every fiber of his very existence that the commander heeds his frantic warning.

But to no avail…

" _No Garrus, we're almost there, I'm not falling back when we are so close-"_ a massive torrent of gunfire and explosions cut off the human and Garrus's heart skipped several beats.

"Damn it, Shepard!?"

" _Damn, they've got YMIR mechs assaulting our position, Jacob and Zaeed are wounded!"_ that was news that the turian never wanted to hear.

"Spirits Shepard… We're coming down there right now-" began the turian as he hefted his rifle

" _No! Stay right where you are, that's an order. We'll get out of here just fine, I promise"_ assured the commander in a voice that was slightly calmer than usual.

And with that, Shepard cut off Garrus's only hope of communicating with the man.

"What was that about?" Garrus turned his head slightly to his left and saw a concerned Kasumi gripping her submachine gun.

The marksman turned back towards the general direction of the stronghold, hung his head low, and sighed.

"We may have a problem,"

* * *

Miranda grit her teeth in anger as her kinetic barrier once again was defeated by the onslaught of enemy fire, forcing her back into cover.

This has been the basic cycle throughout their stay as the batarians' honorary guests within the confines of this secure facility. She's been constantly pinned down for most of the engagement taking on more of a support role with her biotics than anything else.

The room they were in was heavily defended. It was a hundred by hundred meter room that was filled with crates and even a handful of inoperable makos that the batarians somehow managed to acquire. In the middle, there was an obvious path that led from their current position all the way to the server room. Unfortunately, this section of the facility also seemed to double as a last stand defense for the server room. Dozens of elite troops guarded this room, their barriers and armor was much more powerful than the standard rank and file, and they were heavily armed and well trained.

Half a dozen mounted heavy machine guns were present all the way across the room overlooking the combat zone in their own little positions dug into the wall. The single barreled, tripod mounted weapons were protected by a heavy shield that was impervious to small arms fire.

They couldn't move lest they get cut down in an instant.

But the trio of YMIR mechs advancing down the center past the makos and crates was the biggest threat in the room. Their barriers effortlessly deflected gunfire and the Cerberus princess's ocasional biotics, even her warp, which could bypass their kinetic barriers, did negligible damage to the heavy armor that the multi ton war machines had equipped.

"Jacob, Zaeed, see if you guys can't take out the HMGs, Miranda, biotic barrier around them now!" Miranda instantly complied and used her defensive abilities to their fullest, forming a barrier around the two human combatants.

She briefly wondered if they could even pull of their respective orders in their wounded state but stopped that train of thought once she saw the two men shakily rise to their feet with their anti tank missiles equipped.

The Cerberus operative wondered why Shepard didn't order them to fire their ordinance off at the mechs. Despite their durability, she was sure that Jacob and Zaeed had enough missiles to take down at least one and maybe even two.

She gritted her teeth and strained herself as the gunfire slammed against her barrier with little mercy being given.

She watched the two men take aim and fire. The missiles soared through the air and impacted milliseconds later, each round impacted a turret position. The result was instant, the small windows that the weapons were pointing out of exploded into a fireball, and plums of smoke rose to the ceiling.

The two combatants repeated this process twice each and brought about the complete termination of the mounted weapons. Nothing but plumes of smoke were wafted into the air from the original positions of the weapons.

The Cerberus operative released the barrier the second the men ducked back into cover and managed to sigh in relief; that was one less problem to worry about.

Miranda poked her head out of cover and promptly opened fire on one of the batarians that was rushing forward towards a dormant mako. Only a total of twenty meters separated Miranda from her intended target, the burst of fire hit the unfortunate soldier in a few microseconds and the limp corpse danced a deadly macabre on its way to the cold metal floor.

The operative then switched to the next target; a batarian that was moving from cover to cover on the far left side attempting to pin down the commander. She sighted up the target's head and prepared to pull the trigger, only to stop as the familiar aura of biotics enveloped the soldier and hurled him at a massive shipping crate like a wet paper towel. The improvised sentient surface to surface missile impacted the large object and remained motionless after sliding to the ground in a manner that would have defined complete and utter defeat.

"We could do this all day and not make any progress," grumbled Jacob in grim admittance. Miranda found herself silently agreeing with the ex-marine.

She looked to her right and saw the man lob a grenade over in the general direction of the enemies. Her eyes tracked the explosive device and watched it land perfectly on a catwalk that seemed to bisect the room right down the middle horizontally from Miranda's perspective. The elevated position was occupied by a trio of soldiers that seem to be setting up a rather large looking automatic weapon that the operative wasn't able to identify.

The grenade exploded and its power sent the poor sods flying off the catwalk, if the explosion didn't kill them, then the several meter fall certainly would. A good five meters of the catwalk was blown into pieces by the power of the device, and small pieces were shot off in every direction in the form of lethal shrapnel.

Her eyes focused back on the mechs steadily advancing all of a sudden. Her expression hardened and the operative opened fire on the war machine in the middle. She grit her teeth as the barrier absorbed her entire thermal clip.

"Commander, those mechs are advancing again!" warned Miranda angrily as she let loose yet another torrent of automatic fire to no avail.

"Keep them occupied everyone, Six flank right, I'll take left," ordered the commander in a calm yet powerful voice that brooked no argument.

The Cerberus operative did not respond verbally, but rather in the form of a warp aimed at her target mech. Critical eyes examined parts of the armor denting and being chipped off, but she knew that that did nothing to even remotely harm the YMIR.

The mech in turn opened fire with its own automatic weapon and Miranda found herself ducking behind cover to avoid getting turned into smelly swiss cheese.

The next thing Miranda registered was a loud 'bang' and the found herself being hurled into the air before gravity pulled her back down.

The impact knocked the air out of her lungs and pain lanced throughout her body. Her vision was blurry and she tasted copper.

What had happened? She was hiding behind enough to cover to protect her from the mech's automatic weapon.

Her vision began to clear and her eyes locked onto the mech no more than forty meters, realization dawned when she saw the massive walking tank fire off a missile. It flew out of her field of view and impacted an unseen target, hopefully missing said target by a good mile.

The Cerberus operative wanted to berate herself for not taking into account the mech's missile launcher but she realized that there were more pressing matters to deal with first.

Miranda looked around frantically for a weapon to use; she was far too injured to summon her biotics effectively.

She found her rifle conveniently sitting right next to her physical form and reached out to grab it. After confirming that it is still operational, she shouldered it and opened fire on the approaching batarians, dropping three of them that were attempting to use the mechs as mobile cover.

Miranda's keen eyes picked up movement behind one of the makos to the right, next to one of the mechs. She squinted her eyes and got a glimpse at a familiar golden visor before it became a blur and a loud 'clang' pierced to storm of gunfire.

Confused, Miranda's eyes panned back towards the mechs and then widened slightly.

Perched on top of the right most mech, in quite possibly the most dangerous position one could possibly find themselves in at this very moment, was the hulking figure of Noble Six.

Rather than engaging the other hostiles, Miranda's curiosity got the best of her, and she watched the Spartan handle the war machine that easily dwarfed Six.

His fists blurred and pieces of armor was torn off of the back of the powerful biped. The relative ease with which the Spartan tore off the armor was simply amazing. She then watched the super soldier pull a grenade off of his utility belt and bury it into the now unarmored portion of the mech using a powerful strike that pierced whatever armor it had left. She then watched the super soldier disembark off of the mech and lunge out of the way of any return fire before retreating back between the makos.

Her eyes quickly switched to the mech and watched as the incendiary grenade exploded and completely melted the insides of the mech. Liquid metal began to pool on the ground followed by the mech that came crashing down.

She then caught movement to the left on top of the makos and spotted the commander sneaking his way over to one of the last two mechs. Miranda felt dread well up within her physical being; if the commander tried the same stunt that Six pulled off, he might get gunned down before he even managed to plant a grenade inside of the mech.

The N7 armor is a very impressive piece of equipment. But compared to Six's suit of armor, it was more of a glorified loincloth.

Suddenly, her comms crackled to life. _"Everyone, focus fire onto the left most mech until its barriers are brought down. Six, belay that order and instead engage the other mech,"_

Miranda briefly wondered what the commander might be thinking of before squeezing the trigger. Her rifle barked its killing intent towards the mech and was soon followed by three more guns as well.

With the combined firepower of four exceptionally accurate rifles and a pair of grenades probably from Grunt, the blue aura disappeared and the sounds of the shots pinging off of the armor could be heard before the gunfire on the mech was redirected to the more vulnerable infantry that is now getting too close for comfort.

The Cerberus operative cycled a new thermal clip and watched as the commander, to her surprise, shouldered a stolen missile launcher and aimed it at the rear of the mech where its weaker armor was located.

The high velocity missile hit almost instantly, and fragments of armor became lethal shrapnel that was launched in every possible direction throughout the massive room.

Most of the mech's rear seemed to be gone. The bipedal walker slumped to the ground with a dull thump.

"Crazy bastard," muttered Miranda darkly as she made to cover the retreating commander.

He was lucky that the batarians didn't think to target him considering he was on an elevated position with no cover.

"Cover me, moving up to support the commander!" ordered the Cerberus operative as her legs propelled her forward. She grit her teeth trying to ignore the pain that lanced throughout her body every time she took a step; that mech really did a number on her.

The answer to her order was apparent as more and more batarians seemed to drop from the combined efforts of the team. She saw a batarian come out from behind the closest mako and lashed out with her biotics. The unfortunate soldier was launched in the air before violently being smashed back into the ground.

He didn't get up anymore.

The Cerberus operative slammed her body against the closest mako and narrowly avoided the follow up gunfire from the final mech. She heard an explosion coming from the other side of the large armored vehicle and knew that the commander was in trouble.

"Shepard, fallback I'll cover you!" said Miranda, unknowingly ordering her own commanding officer. But in a situation such as this one, such things do not matter.

"I'd be happy to oblige Miranda," began Shepard, gritting his teeth in an attempt to suppress pain… the commander was injured? "But I kind of have my own problems…

Miranda's weapon swung out from behind cover as fast as she willed her flesh to move, and the scene that was displayed to her made her eyes widen in horror.

The commander was crouched in an almost defensive posture, as if he were trying to protect himself from an angry mob that was kicking and punching him from different directions. The man clutched at his left leg like it was his lifeline. Upon further inspection, the Cerberus operative realized that there was a large piece of metal shrapnel, about a foot in length, that was stuck in the man's thigh. Blood pooled onto the ground, threatening to offer the floor a complete repaint.

Miranda grimaced, knowing how much pain Shepard must have been in.

She felt the ground shudder from massive footsteps as the huge mech approached the commander.

Miranda felt horror well up in here; the commander was going to die, her biotics weren't anywhere near as fast as the projectiles that would spew out of the YMIR's main weapon.

This man that she came to hate yet respect. This man that led them with an unnatural proficiency that inspired incredible warriors to be even more than incredible, to be invincible, the galaxy's best. Men and women that would carry the burden of an entire galaxy with them.

All they've fought for seemed to be for nothing and Miranda felt a deep, dark, cold emptiness build up inside. Without a leader, they are useless; incredible warriors against impossible odds that can only be overcome by impossible warriors birthed from a leadership that can change the course of galactic history.

It was almost as if time seemed to slow down to Miranda. She watched the mech's weapon lower slightly until it was aiming center mass at Shepard's chest, just like it was programmed to do, killing hostiles in the quickest, yet most efficient method, emotionless and unfeeling.

She watched the commander glare defiantly through that helmet of his right into the machine's dual red eyes without so much as a flinch. He would die a soldier.

And just like that, without so much as a blink's equivalent of effort, the mech fired.

It sent a barrage of projectiles at 1200 rounds per minute, travelling at a small percentage of the speed of light. Shepard's armor is little more than paper mache at this point.

Miranda didn't get a chance to scream.

Nor did Shepard…

For he still draws breath.

It was strange really. It seemed as if God himself sent down one of his angels to protect the good commander.

The golden, human shaped barrier took all of the incoming fire. It was a short burst from the mech, lasting for about one second, the machine only expected a mere human after all.

Miranda's eyes widened as the hulking human's active camo ceased its operation and revealed to the batarians death incarnate.

This was no normal angel, not the kind caring ones whose smiles alone can send you into a peaceful slumber unmatched through any other means.

No… this is the real angel of death.

Cobra quick, the armored human's gauntlets latched onto the YMIR's arms and began to squeeze.

As if the man was blessed by the strength of Hercules, the metal around the weapons groaned in protest, merely delaying the inevitable. It eventually cracked and the barrels of the weapons were crushed, rendering them useless.

With the knowledge of its main armaments being out of action, the mech began to push forward.

It took one step forward, pushing the much smaller and much lighter human back.

It took a second step forward.

Then a third…

Before stopping all together.

Miranda looked on with awe as the angel of death held back the warmachine with only a silent grunt.

"Pull back the commander," the deep, monotone voice shook the operative out of her stupor as she summoned her biotics. The blue aura of biotic power gently encased the commander's body, pulling him out of harm's way. The Cerberus operative got a brief glimpse of Grunt rushing forward the meet the batarians head on, who could only stare in shock as the Spartan physically manhandled their most powerful asset.

She dragged the commander behind cover once her biotics did most of the work, ignoring the pained groans.

"That was stupid Shepard," growled Miranda in annoyance. "You could have gotten yourself killed!"

Shepard chuckled, much to the operative's dismay. "Well it was that or risk Six going hand to hand with two of them," Miranda risked a glanced from behind cover and feasted her eyes upon the Spartan standing proudly over the corpse of the YMIR mech, unloading shot after shot from his scimitar into the machine's red, almost devil-like eyes.

"I think he would have handled himself just fine," muttered the operative in disbelief as she brought out a canister of medigel.

* * *

 _Ammunition supplies for mass effect weapons running low. Conserving plasma rifle ammunition until further notice…. Hostile left, engaging… enemy is tango uniform… enemy front… engaging._

There was a difference between a man and a machine. The machine is cold and unfeeling, it rarely makes mistakes performing its assigned task and it performs said tasks with little to no delay as efficiently as possible.

The man is the opposite when compared to the machine. He is filled with emotion, makes mistakes more often, and also hesitates more than a machine.

For a long time Spartans were thought to be machines for those exact reasons, perfect soldiers that were emotionless in every sense of the word.

For Noble Six, killing was as easy as breathing. It was repetition. Find the target, strategize its elimination, execute, confirm elimination, find target, rinse and repeat.

It involved strategy like playing a game of chess, or defeating an opponent in hand to hand combat with well placed feints and strikes that would do the most damage.

 _Strike the king with a surprise attack using the bishop on the left flank._

Six's armored fist connected with a batarian's head in a devastating left hook that pulverized it and instantly killed the pirate.

 _Sacrifice a pawn or two in order to open up a strike from the queen… sacrifices must be made for victory… for the greater good._

Another soldier fired two shots from his shotgun at point blank range. The Spartan's energy shield came to life and enveloped the Spartan's armored body, deflecting the miniscule projectiles effortlessly.

The Spartan then lashed out with his kukri. The monomolecular blade sheared through armor, flesh, and bone as if it weren't even there, and the batarian's head was separated from the rest of his body.

"Status Sigma?" questioned the Spartan within the confines of his helmet.

" _Commander Shepard's leg was punctured by a piece of shrapnel, but Miranda's almost got it patched up. Everyone else seems to be sporting some minor injuries. The batarians also seem to be replacing their numbers as quickly as they are dwindling… it's a stalemate,"_ Six frowned, indeed it was a stalemate, and the team won't be able to win a battle of attrition.

They needed to push forward, to take the initiative, before the batarians do it themselves.

And so the Spartan _would_ take the initiative.

Six rolled to the side and successfully avoided a well thrown grenade. He holstered the shotgun and his right arm reached the weapon on his hip, hesitating for a millisecond before shouldering it.

He sighted up the nearest batarian and fired a double tap.

The twin blue blobs of superheated plasma flew much slower than bullets, but their impact yield horrifying results.

The blobs of plasma impacted the batarian's shields, their kinetic energy being absorbed by the barriers… it didn't matter.

The batarian screamed bloody mary as the heat radiation bypassed the barrier and, sitting at a temperature of ten thousand degrees celsius, instantly began to melt the pirate's chestplate.

The liquid metal fused to the poor soul's skin and began to burn through skin, flesh, and organs.

The soldier died quite quickly, but the death was far more agonizing than most would be able to comprehend.

The plasma rifle was known to be quite inaccurate. But guided by the supernatural precision of a Spartan, it can seem as accurate as any high quality firearm.

With this knowledge, Six's firearm let loose several short bursts into the ever increasing horde of batarians, putting them down in scores with reckless abandon.

" _Well, I suppose that takes care of getting into the server room…"_ said Sigma.

"What about exfil?" questioned the Spartan in a now gravelly voice as he felt a tinge of annoyance build up in him from the team's inability to keep up with him. Six reminded himself that they weren't Spartans and that these odds are suicidal for them.

The annoyance subsided.

" _I may have an idea… just let me run it over a few million times and I'll brief you once we get into the server room,"_ the Spartan only nodded. Whatever kind of plan the AI has cooked up, the hyper lethal was sure that it would work. Smart AI's are very meticulous and they almost never miss a single detail. They have a perfection streak that far outstrips any other machine, yet they are still far more human than any of the original Spartans, as ironic as it sounds.

"Commander, enemy defenses are dwindling, recommend we push forward before they receive reinforcements," suggested the Spartan as he grabbed an unfortunate soldier and used the biped as a shield, the living shield's comrades opened fire and the batarian looked more like swiss cheese than a fully functioning combatant.

" _Agreed, everyone push forward while their numbers are low!"_ and just like that, all hell broke loose as the entire assault team dove headfirst into the hostiles.

Miranda lashed out with her biotics and a trio of pirates were left to the mercy of a very trigger happy krogan.

Zaeed gunned down several of the pirates at close range while Jacob covered his flanks from the rear.

Six observed this with his well trained eyes. He stayed in cover and continued to shoot down targets with his plasma rifle, he noticed the commander in cover next to him, opening fire on the offenders alongside the hyper lethal.

The Spartan unclipped two flashbangs in his massive gauntlet and prepared to through them.

"Flashbang out!" warned the Spartan with an intensity not usually seen in the silent soldier.

The two non lethal devices sailed through the air. Blessed by Spartan Time, Mike watched the batarians slowly fall back a few feet as their numbers dwindled far more quickly due to the concentrated fire.

Mike busied himself by cutting down soldiers on the left and right flanks where the flashbangs might not affect them at those ranges.

The devices, without warning, exploded. The blinded pirates yelled in confusion in panic. Mike took this as his chance and vaulted over the military barrier he was hiding behind.

Mike's powerful legs, further boosted by MJOLNIR, carried the half ton nightmare at terrifying speeds. He crossed the thirty meter distance in a single second and slammed his massive left gauntlet into one of the pirates.

The force of the punch was transferred into its skull and pieces of bone and brain matter splattered onto the floor.

Guided by a lifetime of military training and combat, Mike unsheathed his kukri and held it in a reverse grip without even a thought. None of the batarians could even cower in fear before the Spartan was upon them.

With a reaction time in the single digit milliseconds, the batarians wouldn't even see the massive human move before they were dead.

Six's knife ran across the throat of one trooper and he was rewarded with blood splattering out of his jugular.

Mike's ears picked up the sound of rapidly approaching footsteps. His head snapped instantly onto a batarian rushing at him with an omni-blade, Mike was tempted to roll his eyes but prevented himself from doing so.

Cobra quick, the Spartan sidestepped the angry combatant. He crouched low and lashed out with his elbow. It connected and Six heard the alien's spine shatter.

But he didn't end it there. The Spartan grabbed the soldier's left arm, turned around, and put their backs together. Without any hesitation, he pulled on the arm and crouched down even lower, sending the batarian flying over his head and landing on the ground with a sickening crunch.

The lone wolf then switched targets and punctured the forehead of another previously breathing combatant.

" _Friendlies backing you up on your six,"_ informed Sigma. The Spartan regarded the information for a split second before unleashing a devastating head kick that crushed his intended target's head when the super soldier's armored shin impacted.

Six's peripheral vision caught movement on his right and the Spartan whirled around to meet it, only to stand down at the sight of Grunt landing a vicious punch on one of the pirates. The impact likely cracked the victim's skull as his body was thrown back a good three meters from the power of the krogan's punch.

" _Damn could we really be going any slower right now!?"_ complained Jacob rather childishly.

Six took cover behind a large shipping container next to Miranda and took a moment to observe the scene.

He watched Jacob and Zaeed develop some kind of impressive chemistry with the two combatants working together in bringing down the more numerous batarians. The soldier and mercenary watched each other's backs and cover all blind spots, ensuring that any ground gained by the enemy would be with a huge price.

Grunt was a little ways ahead of them still engaged in hand to hand combat with a fireteam of batarians, he was currently in the process of wrenching the neck of one of the unfortunate troopers.

Six's head the shifted to the commander and witnessed an impressive display of skill.

The commander, who already managed to kill off an entire squad of batarians, lashed out with his biotics and sent three more of them flying into the wall behind them. The impact instantly killed them. Shepard then opening fire with his rifle and downed two more of the hostiles.

He was then promptly rushed but three more hostiles who seemed to be relying on their numbers to overpower the veteran.

The commander activated his omni-blade and rushed forward, reaching impressive speeds thanks to his biotics.

One of the batarians lashed out with the butt of his rifle, the commander ducked and sliced diagonally along the stomach. The skin and flesh was easily sliced open and the trooper's guts spilled onto the ground.

Shepard then brought the blade up and made a flawless vertical cut right on the next trooper's sternum, no doubt cutting into several vital organs judging by how quickly the alien died. The final trooper brought out his gun in an attempt to shot Shepard at point blank. The human was faster however as his left hand caught the weapon. The commander then headbutted the offending trooper and plunged his omni-blade into its throat, ending the alien's struggles almost instantly.

" _Wow… that was impressive for a non-Spartan. He might've given Johnson a run for his money,"_ remarked Sigma, his tone clearly displaying shock.

But Six couldn't agree more. The commander could not hold a candle against a Spartan. But he is amazing in his own right. He is a normal human. A normal individual performing amazing feats, something that any Spartan could respect.

Six quickly cut off those thoughts however; they didn't concern the mission, therefore they are useless thoughts.

Mike turned over to Miranda and quickly brought a suggestion to her attention.

"Ma'am, is it possible for you and the commander to combine your biotic abilities in order to develop a barrier for the team to traverse past the hostiles and into the server room?" questioned Six in a deadpan as his plasma weapon continued to fire off bursts at the unfortunate victims.

The operative stared at Six's visor in surprise before looking at the deadly Covenant weapon in shock. She finally settled for her regular impassive expression before replying.

"That might be possible, but you will have to cover us," retorted the operative somewhat aggressively, as if she was challenging an opponent to best her ins something.

Mike ignored the aggression and only nodded in the affirmative.

"Commander-" began the Spartan before he was interrupted by the commander.

" _Yeah, I heard you guys. I'm all for the plan right now but the rest of you need to stick close and thin out these bastards while we push forward,"_

"Affirmative, standing by," there was no need to inform the rest of the team, if Shepard heard them, then so did the rest of the team.

Mike prepped his last flashbang as he awaited Shepard's orders.

" _Miranda, let's move. Everyone, form up around us!"_ That was his queue.

The flashband sailed through the air as Miranda's and Shepard's biotic barriers sprang to life.

The non lethal weapon exploded and blinded a good portion of the hostiles and they were promptly cut down by plasma and mass effect fire like the defenseless victims they truly were.

Mike found himself pushing in front of the two biotics alongside Grunt while Zaeed and Jacob brought up the rear.

Six's weapon blurred, the man was like a sentry gun, targeting the most dangerous threats and killing them as efficiently as possible without a shred of remorse. There seemed to almost be an invisible bubble around the biotic barrier as Six downed the batarians with terrifying precision.

Six's gun blurred to the right and he saw a batarian readying a rocket launcher. He did not know if the biotic barrier could withstand such firepower.

Nor did he want to find out.

It seemed that Grunt had the same idea as his shotgun barked once, knocking down the trooper's barrier. Six fired a single plasma bolt into the head of the trooper to end the threat quicker. The alien's head had a large gaping crater in the center of the forehead as the body fell to the ground without making a sound.

The krogan growled in anger much to Six's confusion.

"Do not steal my kills human, otherwise I'll tear you apart and feast on your flesh!" roared the krogan in anger.

The Spartan took the krogan's aggressive response as a threat and prepared to terminate him…

Only to stop.

There was other things to worry about besides the unstable krogan, and if Grunt really tried to engage the Spartan, Six would dispatch the krogan quickly and efficiently so as to not bog down the rest of the team.

Six noticed the door in his face and prepared to stop, knowing that the batarians likely sealed the door shut.

Only they didn't, and the armored door opened and invited the intruders into its maw. The team accepted the invitation without missing a beat.

The door shut behind them and Six put two shots into the control panel; hopefully that will keep them out for some time.

The Spartan turned around and was greeted by a scene that he never expected to see.

The entire place was abandoned.

The dozens of consoles were empty and no soldiers have taken up defensive positions. It was a foolish tactical mistake and the Spartan sighed heavily at such incompetence. Although he was satisfied with the fact that they now had full access to their objective so long as the enemy doesn't break through somehow.

"You know, I'm really happy about not running into an ambush that was apart of another ambush… but seriously, where is everyone?" muttered Jacob, voicing everyone's thoughts.

"Bah, the cowards ran. Someone open the damn door so I can slaughter the pathetic squishies!"

All except one that is…

"Now's not the time, we'll take whatever we can get, everyone spread out and investigate. Check the consoles for anything… records, files, encryptions, you know the drill," everyone did as was asked by the commander and carried out their tasks as quickly as possible.

The Spartan still wasn't convinced that the area was cleared and continued to patrol the area at a quick pace since time is a resource that they are quickly running out.

It was at this moment that the Spartan realised that the server room was connected to another room.

"Commander, I've found another room, commencing search," informed the Spartan nonchalantly as he began to move through the door with his weapon trained on his twelve O'clock.

"Understood, be careful," replied the commander from his side of the room.

With the warning duly noted, Six pressed on into the darkness that this room held.

He only took three steps into the room before the door suddenly slid shut behind him with a loud bang. Six froze like a statue and began to scan the room for threats.

" _Very cliche…"_ muttered Sigma.

The Spartan did not answer but only allowed his eyes and weapon to scan the environment.

" _We're not alone in here…"_ remarked Sigma.

Six looked at his motion tracker and saw a dozen red dots spread out in a semi circle around his.

Hostile presence confirmed.

His keen eyes picked up something.

A shimmer.

There was no mistaking it, the hostiles were using active camouflage, a dumbed down version a Covenant cloaking systems clearly, but nonetheless effective.

"Identify yourselves," ordered the Spartan, voice devoid of any emotion.

He switched to night vision and watched the figures reveal themselves.

They were human shaped but they had to be batarians, although the Spartan wasn't sure. They were covered from head to toe in a type of body armor he was never seen before during his many hours spent studying this galaxy.

The armor itself was slender, obviously meant to provide adequate protection without compromising movement. The armor was colored black and white. There was also four very thin red slits on the helmet, likely how the operators see out of the helmet.

Without warning they unsheathed swords of all things and brandished them menacingly.

" _I don't think they are willing to negotiate…"_ pointed out Sigma.

Six inaudibly grunted in agreement.

" _Six, what's your status? The door just closed shut behind you and we can't get through!"_ the commander sounded worried, but that was the least of Six's worries.

The Spartan replied.

"Hostile presence confirmed… going loud,"

* * *

 **There we go, that took longer than it should have. But when school bombards you with two tests every week for a whole month plus a literal boat load of homework and other assignments, it usually leaves on with little free time and motivation to conduct activities that they enjoy performing. Regardless, pleases accept my apology for taking as long as I did. I have been receiving lots of praise from most of you along with some good criticism. I am very grateful for it and hope that you guys will inform me of my performance regarding this chapter… I hope I did okay. One more thing… I've been considering doing a pairing with Noble Six and I may have a few options. However, I've been wanting to hear your opinions. So give me a few suggestions on a pairing with our favourite lone wolf if possible, and from there I will decide the best option. Be aware that it will take time for such a relationship to develop. Six may not have had his sexual drive suppressed like the Spartan IIs, but he is still a Spartan who has known nothing but war since childhood. That plus all of his training to forget his emotions will make it extremely rare for Six to display ANY form of emotion. Anyways… I hope you enjoy and stay tuned for more!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer:** Any and all characters are not my own. Neither is the Halo and Mass Effect series.

 **Rated M**

 **Chapter 6 - Out of the Frying Pan, Into the Fire**

* * *

It was astonishing.

The data… military strongholds, patrol routes, names, dates, places, defense force composition and so on.

The entire Systems Alliance has been compromised.

But how? As a senior operative of Cerberus, Miranda's skills in intelligence gathering were practically unmatched. They had to be, Cerberus is powerful but a direct confrontation with any real military power would be tantamount to suicide. Cerberus's military prides itself in covert ops or small scale hit and run assaults more than anything else really.

It disturbed her to realize that even she would have been incapable of extracting this much information on the Systems Alliance. Such a task is impossible for anything short of a well funded and numerous organization.

But who did it? How did they do it? It just seemed impossible and Miranda found herself growing more and more frustrated the longer she dwelled on it.

"Six? Six?! Do you read me?" it was the commander. The super soldier was locked in a room and had recently confirmed a hostile presence. Miranda wasn't concerned though. After seeing what the Spartan has done to the unfortunate defenders, she was more concerned about the lives of his opponents to be honest.

"Commander, I'm sure Six can handle himself. We should focus on retrieving the data while he mops up whoever is in there with him," suggested Jacob, he was directly across Miranda frantically typing on the console as if his very life depended on it.

His countenance was one of disbelief as he read over the information on the Systems Alliance. It then turned into pure anger that promised the deaths of those that dared to threaten the Human race.

"Agreed, you saw what he did to those batarians, whatever is in there with him won't last long, we need more help in order to extract the data quicker," said Miranda exasperatedly.

She heard the commander sigh, "no one's invincible," he mumbled, before begrudgingly joining the pair.

"Hurry up, the sooner you finish, the sooner I can get out there to kill more of these weak squishies," growled the krogan.

Miranda looked up with a raised eyebrow. Grunt fingered his shotgun while glaring at the door, threatening to burn a hole right through it.

Zaeed stood next to the hulking lizard, looking at him with an amused expression, before shaking his head and chuckling.

"How bad do you think it is out there?" began Jacob. "Their response time was fairly quick, who knows how many are waiting out there for us, probably have defenses set up and are waiting for us to walk out that door,"

He was right. Miranda just realized how terrible their position is; trapped in the middle of this fortress… practically impervious to anything but a regiment sized force, with dozens, if not hundreds of angry batarians waiting to cut them down. She wondered how they were going to get out of this one.

Can they make it?

"We'll make it, if we can get in, then we can get out," assured the commander's voice, the determination oozed out and permeated the room. She didn't know how the man did it, but she felt his confidence now, and a quick glance to the rest of the team told her that they all felt the same.

She wondered if that confidence can make that big of a difference.

* * *

"Confirm hostile allegiance."

" _Unknown, armor configuration unknown, missing server room occupants likely due to new hostile presence. Their capabilities are unknown… be careful._

Six nodded and readied his shotgun.

His body went rigid and his muscles coiled, he was ready for anything, he was expecting anything.

Just like that, two of the strange hostiles on his twelve O'clock rushed forward.

They were fast, far faster than any normal human or batarian. The Spartan guessed that they were augmented, or at the very least the armor augmented them instead.

Still, for all the speed they possessed, they had no business engaging a Spartan of all things in hand to hand combat.

Of course… how could they know the danger in that?

Six fired off his shotgun three times. He was surprised to see all of the blasts absorbed by the kinetic barrier. So they were more durable too… it matters not.

Six ducked under the horizontal swing of the first hostile while catching the downward strike of another. He then squeezed. He heard the bones being crushed and the armor warping. A feminine scream of pure agony pierced the air and the Spartan noted that it was human… what the hell are humans doing here?

No Alliance assets fit this description. A secret project perhaps? Surely Shepard would have been informed of Alliance assets being deployed to recover the information. Something didn't add up. Mike decided to think about that later as he had more pressing matters to attend to.

Even if they were Alliance assets, they just identified themselves as hostile, they are now an obstacle in the mission and therefore must be neutralized.

He quickly grabbed the sword from the human's limp hand and proceeded to behead the enemy with her own sword. He then spun around and threw the sword at a third approaching hostile.

The weapon flew far too fast for even the augmented hostile to register it before the sword pierced right through the victim's chest and picked him up off his feet.

Finding himself without a weapon, the hyper lethal unsheathed his kukri and held it in a reverse grip.

He subconsciously sidestepped a stab aimed at his center mass and violently plunged the monster of a blade right through the human's forehead.

" _Careful Six, I just scanned those blades. They are monomolecular, I don't think I have to remind you that avoiding getting cut by one of these things should be a priority,"_ informed Sigma.

The Spartan merely stored that piece of information in the back of his head while he slit the throat of another enemy and then unleashed a vicious palm strike that landed right where a person's nose would be.

The effects were devastating.

A Spartan II or III was the very definition of superhuman. They had a physical prowess that put them within the category of supernatural. MJOLNIR only multiplied what a Spartan could do. Six's strength is multiplied by a factor of five in MJOLNIR.

He pivoted his right foot into the strike as well ensuring that his weight of 1450 pounds is transferred into the already deadly strike.

Once the palm made contact, the human's head pretty much exploded. Pieces of the helmet, bone fragments, and brain matter was launched in every direction, and the headless corpse was flung into the wall like a wet paper towel ten meters away. It was as if a speeding semi collided with the poor victim's head.

But if the rest of the hostiles felt perturbed by their comrade's disturbing death, they did not show it.

They continued to rush forward. The Spartan guessed that they had been trained well to not falter after witnessing their comrades die gruesome deaths.

It meant that psychological tactics would be pretty much pointless if they don't scare easily. Quick and efficient kills would be more preferable than slower but more brutal ones.

Armed with this new knowledge, the Spartan rushed forward and within a split second, was upon the hostiles. He plunged his blade center mass into the first target and punctured the man's heart, before backhanding an approaching hostile on his left that reacted again, far too quickly for a normal human.

Mike was rewarded with the sound of a human skull being crushed far beyond any form of functionality.

He removed the blade from the other man's chest and spun around just in time to block a downward swing with Emile's kukri. The swing was stopped effortlessly and Six withdrew his magnum.

He pressed the barrel of the weapon against the human's forehead. At this range, the bullet will accelerate into the target's head, rather than losing velocity at range. So he fired a total of four times. With each shot he found himself more and more impressed with the durability of these new enemies. The fourth shot effortlessly sheared through the advanced looking armor and exploded inside the human's head showering the surrounding area with pieces of bone, brain, and the helmet.

The gruesome display of UNSC firepower didn't perturb anyone in the room.

Six spun around and emptied the remainder of the magnum into the chest of another rapidly approaching tango. The final armor piercing explosive round punch right through the armor, sheared through flesh, and then exploded. The organs were shredded from the supersonic tungsten shrapnel and pieces of flesh was blown out of the wound. The man fell to the ground and remained motionless.

Four more hostiles remained and they quickly established a perimeter around the Spartan before rushing forward.

Six sidestepped the forward thrust from the opponent in front of him before parrying the rightmost opponent's diagonal cut. Finding himself without a viable means to defend himself from the rapid approaching tango on his left, the hyper lethal's helmet snapped onto the warrior as if it were a lock on ATGM tracking its target. His helmet snapped back and then slammed into the unfortunate soldier's nose. Bone and cartilage shattered instantly and the brain was pulverized ensuring instant, painless death.

" _Six behind you!"_ came the frantic warning from the armored warrior's artificial companion.

Knowing what to expect, Mike attempted to sidestep to the left, but was ultimately struck regardless.

Mike noted a ten percent shield decrease once the blade made contact; it wasn't much, but a normal human could not have delivered that much damage.

Afterall, a sharper blade doesn't increase the amount of damage done to an energy shield, it was more dependant on the net force that can be delivered. This meant that a heavier object with a higher acceleration will do much more damage than a lighter object with a lower acceleration. It explains why a Jiralhanae with a gravity hammer could instantly shatter a Spartan's shield and even damage the armor beneath it with a single well placed strike.

The hyper lethal was far more concerned with what would happen if the monomolecular blade impacted the unshielded armor.

Mono-blades are very thin, so thin in fact, that instead of tearing away material like any normal blade, they simply pass in between the molecules, severing the molecular bonds. This means that no matter how strong a material, a molecular blade can theoretically pass through anything with relative ease.

The reason why energy shields aren't affected like any other material is because an energy shield is a field of charged particles. Particles such as neutrons or protons, make up atoms, which in turn make up molecules. A monomolecular blade is nowhere near sharp enough to pass between particles, which is why Six's energy shields are an excellent form of protection from these weapons.

Mike's left arm lashed out and grabbed the attacker by the throat. He squeezed and the man's neck snapped instantly.

His right arm shot out and grabbed the sword that was once held firmly in the grasp of the now lifeless corpse.

Brandishing the weapon menacingly, the super soldier lashed out at the nearest hostile with a feint aimed at his head, the human reacted accordingly and brought his own weapon to bare in hopes of blocking the lethal strike.

The two swords never made contact however as the Spartan switched tactics and slashed at the man's stomach. The blade passed through armor, flesh, and bone so easily, that it might as well have not even existed. The human screamed as his body was cut in half, and his guts, intestines, and most recent meal spilled out onto the floor.

It was only a few seconds of agony however. He died rather quickly due to the alarming rate at which he lost blood. The victim went limp and joined the rest of his comrades in the afterlife.

Mike's sword blurred again and sliced a second target's head clean off before the sword became a projectile weapon and buried itself in the final target's chest.

The Spartan's eyes observed his motion tracker for a split second, before searching the rest of the room for any other hostiles that may be lurking in the shadows. He eventually concluded that the hostile presence has been eliminated after a good ten seconds.

" _They were something else entirely Six. I'm not sure who would be able to produce a fighting force like this, but I'm glad you reacted the way you did, they could have killed you easily with those monomolecular blades,"_ said Sigma. Mike noted that the AI sounded quite relieved.

"Have you recorded this encounter?" inquired the Spartan as he shouldered his Scimitar. It was paramount that the commander be informed of this new enemy once they exfiled out of here.

" _Of course, I've recorded everything… I think now would be a good time to regroup with the rest of the assault team. There's no indication of the batarians breaking through, which means that they are waiting for us to come to them. You'll need to spearhead the escape."_ said Sigma in a surprisingly nonchalant manner.

"What about your plan?" asked Six as he quickly made his way to the door that closed behind him; locked, he'll have to do it manually.

" _Don't worry, I've set up a little distraction but I need you to do most of the manual work so as to hide my existence, just find yourself a terminal and I'll walk you through the steps,"_ Mike only nodded in the affirmative before contacting the commander.

"Commander, this is Noble Six come in, over," to Shepard's credit, his response was instantaneous given the dire situation.

" _I read you Six, what's your status?"_ the commander sounded almost relieved, probably due to the absence of combat that could be heard on the Spartan's end.

"All hostiles eliminated, enroute to regroup, hold your fire," stated the Spartan in a commanding voice.

" _Understood, come on out."_

The commander went silent and Six plunged his gauntlets into the door. He noted how much more difficult it was to accomplish; this door is part of what would pass as this stronghold's brain essentially. Higher quality security makes sense.

Mike gritted his teeth as his muscles tensed and began to pull the door apart little by little. The metal groaned in protest and sparks sprayed all over the super soldier's armored body.

The sight that met the Spartan was five shocked human faces and one toothy grin. Six raised an eyebrow but said nothing more as he passed the open maw and allowed the multiton door to slam shut behind him.

"The door was locked," elaborated the Spartan in hopes of lessening the shocked expressions of his associates.

"Well… it's good to have you back," said Shepard with a nod before continuing. "So I take it that the missing server room staff was taking refuge in there?" inquired the ex spectre with certainty that his assumption is correct.

Mike shook his head. "Negative, the hostiles were unknown. They were human but their equipment was of an unknown origin," Six noticed that the commander's face became a study in confusion.

"Hackett made no mention of Alliance special forces infiltrating the stronghold. Even if they were Alliance assets, they would not have engaged you with so little hesitation,"

"I have recorded the confrontation," provided the Spartan to which Shepard and Miranda's heads perked up at and stared intently at the lone wolf.

Shepard smirked. "Leave it to you to not miss a single detail. Ok, we'll take a look at what you saw once we get out of here," Six only nodded before remembering what Sigma asked of him.

Mike walked over to a terminal and waited for Sigma's instructions.

" _Ok, this should be easy enough, I've covertly hacked into their databanks and have derived the unique password from their encryptions, it's displayed on your HUD,"_ Mike looked at the top left hand corner of his HUD, and sure enough, there was a thirty digit code waiting to be entered.

Six typed in the password quickly, knowing that time was of the essence. He confirmed the login and realised this was the CO's personnel password, which explains why the login can be bypassed for normal personnel. He now had control of the entire base.

The screen turned on to display dozens of files.

"Uh Six, we've retrieved all of the files that we came for… what are you doing?" Six turned to the direction of the voice. It was Jacob, the man had an expression that was both nervous and confused.

"We need a distraction," deadpanned the Spartan, before returning his gaze back to the terminal.

"Hey! You can't just mess with whatever shiny piece of tech you find! None of this even exists in your universe!" said Miranda exasperatedly as she began to stomp towards the Spartan.

"That's enough Miranda! We are running out of options, let Six do his thing," ordered Shepard in a voice that would not tolerate any form of argument.

The Cerberus operative stood down, a little begrudgingly the Spartan noticed.

Still, Six was glad that Shepard could see eye to eye with him. They were heavily outgunned and outnumbered. Desperation is only natural in this situation.

" _Glad the drama was cut short… anyways, I just marked the file that I want you to open up. It contains the blueprints of this stronghold along with all of the electronic pathways used to send commands from the server room to their respective destinations."_ Six nodded mentally and opened up the file.

Sure enough, the extremely complex blueprints were displayed. Six's cold, calculating eyes observed the blueprint, taking in every single detail, before stopping at the reactor room.

He smiled, knowing what the AI's plan was.

" _Great minds do think alike,"_ the AI chuckled.

The Spartan selected the reactor room and allowed Sigma to work his magic. It didn't take long for the AI to send the necessary commands for the reactor to overload. A powerful alarm went off and startled everyone else.

" _There, done! The reactor is now operating at 150% I can have it self destruct whenever you want however. I've hacked into their comms and have informed them that the reactor is being sabotaged, most of their troops should be moving to intercept the 'enemy'. Oh and while I'm at it..."_ Six raised an eyebrow in confusion as the AI went silent for another quick second. _"Great, I've turned their own YMIR mechs against them, now anyone wearing one of their IFF tags gets turned into swiss cheese while you guys get a free pass,"_ said Sigma. Mike's confusion turned into a small smile as he imagined the nasty surprise that the batarians are about to get.

"Well done Sigma," complemented the Spartan as he turned to face the commander and turned on his external speakers.

"Commander, I have overloaded the reactor and have fooled the enemy forces into believing that a secondary assault force is planning to sabotage their stronghold, they are currently diverting teams to contain the situation, we have a limited window to escape," informed the Spartan a calm, yet powerful voice that all but demanded the attention from the room's occupants.

Shepard looked at the Spartan suspiciously, as if a lie detector has compromised him in front of the man's very eyes. To Mike's surprise, his countenance changed into one of calm satisfaction.

"I'm not going to bother asking how you did it Six but-" the veteran's voice was abruptly cut off from what sounded like sustained automatic fire followed by screams of confusion and fear.

"What the bloody hell is going on out there?" murmured Zaeed.

"Missed glory that's what," growled Grunt.

"I have also repurposed the enemy's YMIR mechs to only engage them and not us," elaborated the Spartan. All eyes were on him and he noted shock as the prime expression directed his way.

Not knowing how to react, Mike simply shrugged, earning a withering glare from Miranda.

"Well… I guess we should start moving while we have the chance," suggested Jacob, standing straighter and shouldering his rifle as if to emphasize his point.

Several nods and murmurs of agreement followed after and Shepard motioned for the Spartan to take point.

The super soldier complied. He noted that his motion tracker had less activity; it meant that the enemy numbers are dwindling at an alarming rate.

Mike switched to his Vindicator and moved forward with his weapon trained on the door.

Just like before, it began to open, although at a slower pace… Spartan Time.

He peered through the expanding crack as the door opened.

The Spartan's eyes met a batarian that was opening fire on an unseen foe; one of the YMIRs.

"Weapons free," growled Shepard.

As soon as the command left his mouth, Mike's rifle barked, he fired two bursts and watched as a tight grouping a tiny holes formed in the middle of the target's chest. The batarian instantly crumpled to the ground.

At this point the door opened enough for Six to take in the chaotic scene. There was dozens of dead batarians on top of those killed by the assault team. Four YMIR mechs were stomping around the massive room lighting up the survivors with machine gun fire.

"We really need to get out of here before reinforcements get here," yelled Jacob amidst the sounds of combat.

"Agreed, we're going to blitz past the survivors. Let the mechs take care of them, only engage those that get in our way," said Shepard.

Six took point and began to run at a brisk pace, slow enough for everyone else to keep up.

The mechs were ruthless as they began executing wounded soldiers that initially survived the betrayal of the multiton walking tanks. He ran past a soldier that was crying and desperately pleading for mercy before one of the YMIRs let loose a torrent of fire at point blank range, ending the crippled soldier.

It was overkill, but these machines weren't programmed to know the difference, as long as the threat was eliminated. They operated in a manner similar to that of the Spartans; going to great lengths to ensure that the mission is complete, to fulfill their purpose to the fullest.

They made to escape by backtracking where they came from, there was an absence of hostiles thankfully. The threat of the entire base blowing up along with the sudden betrayal of the YMIR mechs has earned the undivided attention of the surviving batarians.

But their window is closing, Six knew that they had to ingress quickly before reinforcements arrive, he predicted several cruisers at the very least. They had no hopes of stopping a force like that, the Normandy would be decimated and they'd soon follow.

Their primary objective has been fulfilled and Mike's self assigned secondary objective of asset denial will soon follow once they escape and Sigma fully overloads the reactor.

" _Careful Six, forty plus foot mobiles are occupying the mess hall, you've got a trio of YMIRs gunning them down but they are still in your way,"_ warned the AI.

"Commander, forty plus foot mobiles are engaged with three YMIR mechs, we may have to engage," said Six as they approached the door and stopped.

The commander hunkered against the wall to the left of the door and nodded.

"Let's not keep them waiting," said Shepard, earning a chuckle from the krogan.

Mike shouldered the plasma rifle and rushed through the opening door.

Cold, calculating eyes processed the scene in a few milliseconds. The batarians were disorganized, quickly falling prey to the large bipedal walkers.

The Spartan wanted to take advantage of that.

Without even thinking, he lobbed his last two frag grenades towards the enemy.

Blessed with the reaction time needed to outpace the targeting of a sentry gun, Six's plasma rifle cycled to each target, firing a double tap to conserve ammo, knowing the devastation this weapon will have on the batarians.

The mass of the bolts travelled far slower than a bullet, but they still travelled fast enough for the kinetic barrier to register it and block it. Still, the barrier did not halt the ten thousand degrees of heat radiation that passed through.

The victims screamed bloody mary as their own armor melted and fused to their skin. Flesh and organs became charred and even turned to ash. Their deaths were quick and agonizing.

Several seconds later, the rest of his allies joined in with a torrent of mass accelerator fire and biotics which hurled soldiers this way and that. Most of the hostiles were eliminated within a minute thanks to their confusion and the assistance of the mechs.

They made it out of the mess hall, leaving the survivors at the mercy of the machines.

"Garrus, this is Shepard, what's your status?" said Shepard suddenly upon leaving the small combat zone.

Mike heard the sounds of combat coming from the turian's side and frowned; this wasn't good at all.

" _We've been spotted Shepard, the first wave of reinforcements have arrived and are patrolling outside the stronghold. They've vectored a few squads to take us out, we need you to hurry up!"_ roared Garrus, in hopes of being heard by Shepard.

"Dammit, understood, we'll double time it to your position just hold on!" and with that declaration revealed, the commander killed the comms.

Six's head turned back momentarily and saw the scowl on the man's face, despite most of it being blocked by his helmet.

He knew that feeling all too well. That feeling that you are going to lose a fellow comrade coupled with the feeling of hopelessness. Mike knows it better than most.

The only difference is that Mike failed to protect his brothers and sisters in arms. Shepard won't.

Not as long as Mike is breathing…

* * *

Garrus shouldered his M-97 Viper, and peered through the scope. It was a good three hundred meter distance that they enemy was at. But with mass accelerator weapons, that distance hardly mattered. The batarians were firing off well placed shots at them.

He counted at least fifteen of them all approaching in a line formation.

Garrus smiled; it makes them easier to pick off.

His reticle found purchase on the skull of the left most hostile. He inhaled, and squeezed the trigger.

It was instantaneous, the low quality kinetic barrier did not protect its user from the headshot. The sand grain sized piece of metal travelling at a small percentage of the speed of light punched all the way through the skull, a surprising amount of blood splattered out and the corpse fell to the ground like a sack of potatoes.

"That's eleven," muttered Garrus as he sighted up the next target.

He fired again and was rewarded with a similar result.

Again he fired, and again.

They fell one after the other like dominos. But they were being replaced faster than the exfil team could drop them, and Garrus found himself becoming more and more aggravated.

"I don't think I have enough thermal clips to share between these bastards," growled Garrus as he cycled a new thermal clip into his weapon. The safety system turned off the second the fresh clip's presence was detected by the weapon's subsystem, and Garrus resumed firing.

"Don't be stupid!" shouted jack amidst the gunfire. "This is great, we aren't sitting here with our thumbs up our asses, and I'm having a blast gutting these fuckers," Jack's submachine gun barked its agreement, spraying a torrent of fire that would be considered extremely inaccurate had she been using anything but a mass accelerator.

"Aggressive behaviour counterintuitive with delicate situation. Should talk to Kelly in order to administer treatment. Otherwise very hazardous," rambled Mordin with ease.

"You shut the fuck up slimy bastard, else I'll spill your guts too!" growled the psychopath, she roared and let loose a tidal wave of biotic energy upon the batarians that are now alarmingly close; only fifty meters away.

The effects were devastating. The energy shot out at an alarming velocity, it shattered the bases of half a dozen of the massive trees that resided in this forest, prompting them to fall over. The landscape was shredded, soil was kicked up and shredded plant life filled the air as if it were some sort of airborne bacteria. It almost created a smoke screen for the advancing batarians.

Although that won't save them.

The twenty or so batarians that the biotic attack was directed to didn't fare any better. Their kinetic barriers and armor couldn't hope to repel an attack of such magnitude. Their armor and bones were crushed, turned to scrap and dust. The mutilated corpses were hurled twenty feet into the air and launched a good fifteen meters back. Death was instant, fortunately for them.

"That is why you never piss off psycho super biotics with a tendency to throw temper tantrums for the smallest of reasons," muttered Garrus as he gawked at the destruction.

"Kasumi, are we clear?" asked Garrus over the comms. He sent Kasumi forward prior to their engagement to scout forward and possibly flank any enemies if the opportunity presents itself.

Her cloaking device proved to be instrumental in hiding her from any particularly observant foes.

" _I'd like to say we are, but it seems that you guys have attracted lots of attention. They sure love you guys today! I'm seeing a good thirty of them coming your way. I'd say that they are all itching for an autograph from the great Archangel,"_ replied the thief in a voice far too cheery for Garrus's liking.

The turian sighed. "Stay hidden for now. Just be ready to ambush them when I give the word," Kasumi only replied in the affirmative before turning off the comms.

The turian sighed and explained the situation, earning a nod from Mordin and an excited 'fuck yeah' from Jack.

Garrus leaned against the shuttle and peered through his scope. Sure enough, there was the hostiles that Kasumi warned them about. They were approaching at an alarming rate and would soon be upon them. About five hundred meters separated the batarians from them. Garrus had no trouble engaging them at this range. Picking them off would dwindle their numbers and a close quarters fight would be less risky.

The turian wasn't going to send out Kasumi, there was just too many of them and the turian would prefer if they first focused their fire on him and his two companions before allowing the thief to strike.

"I'm engaging them right now," informed the sniper as he sighted up his first target. The batarian's head was on a swivel as he frantically searched for the unseen threat that claimed the life of the comrades that came before his unit. Unfortunately for him, he'll never get the pleasure of seeing it before he dies.

Garrus squeezed the trigger. It happened quick enough to be mistaken for an instantaneous event. The sand grain sized piece of metal covered the five hundred meter distance in a tenth of a millisecond. It drilled through the kinetic barriers and skull of its intended target. The life was sucked out of the corpse as quickly as the three point nine million meter per second projectile penetrated its brain.

The comrades that bore witness to the death were shocked. It was comical, and were the situation not so serious, Garrus probably would have laughed. He simply settled for a smirk before he resumed firing.

It was at this point that the batarians have discovered their position. Garrus had given their position away, he knew this would have happened. But it was either he began picking away at their numbers now, or let them eventually find them and have the same fight occur close quarters were it would be four of them against thirty.

Garrus got away with dropping four of them before they returned fire.

The constant sound of the projectiles pinging off of the shuttle assaulting the turian's hearing and Garrus pressed his mandibles together in agitation as he downed another target with an exemplary headshot.

"Uh, guys, I'd really appreciate it if you could kindly get your thumbs out of your asses and start shooting!" roared Garrus.

" _We are shooting dumbass!"_ retorted Jack.

The sniper quickly looked to his side and saw Mordin on the other side of the shuttle, weapon blaring but the noise was suppressed by the enemy return fire. Jack was further down practically hugging a tree while blind firing.

The turian didn't realise the volume of fire being directed upon them. It didn't matter, they just have to hold out-

" _Garrus, be advised we are approaching behind the enemy so check your fire, we've rendezvoused with Kasumi and are about the engage the enemy,"_ said Shepard, much to the turian's relief.

Wait…

"Kasumi, what the hell, I told you to be ready to ambush the batarians!" growled Garrus.

" _Relax, there was another group trying to reinforce the guys you are dealing with right now, I took care of them,"_ assured Kasumi. Garrus relaxed, if only a little.

Garrus relented."Fine, just be careful next time."

" _Fucking wonderful, if you're done trying to get laid Romeo, you should probably shoot back at the fuckers trying to kill you!"_ damn that swear heavy child.

Garrus only scowled before bringing his rifle to bare. He began to fire, his shots impacted center mass for the most part; better to hit the heart than to possibly miss shots aiming for the smaller head.

" _We should be visible to you now, watch your fire,"_ warned Shepard.

Garrus didn't respond but instead squinted. He heard an increase in gunfire and watched as the batarians began to drop at a much quicker rate than before. They were ended quickly and Garrus saw all six members of the assault team sprinting- or practically jogging, in Six's case, towards the shuttle.

The team of extremely fit soldiers covered the five hundred meter distance in only thirty five seconds. Garrus noted that everyone seemed injured, even Grunt had what appeared to be a few minor cuts from shrapnel, but those would heal quickly since he was a krogan. Only Six seemed to be unscathed, and Garrus found himself surprised and unsurprised at the same time, as strange as it sounds.

"Everyone load up, we need to get out of here now!" yelled Shepard, everyone obeyed and piled into the shuttle, with Garrus, Shepard, and Six covering everyone else. Six's head turned towards Garrus and gestured towards the ship, the sniper understood and climbed aboard, followed by Shepard, and lastly, the armored behemoth.

The shuttle's door closed and the small ship quickly ascended.

The turian sighed in relief; they finally made it out.

His eyes wandered over the crew, Zaeed was clenching and unclenching his fists, probably trying to rid himself of the adrenaline that comes with intense combat. Both Grunt and Jack had scowls on their faces and the turian looked down at the floor to hide his eye roll, knowing the exact reason for their expressions.

The rest of the crew seemed to be trying to relax after that stressful mission.

All except for Six.

He simply stood there, as still as a statue, giving no outward expression of well… anything.

It was as if this whole mission meant nothing to him, as if he felt no stress or adrenaline. What could possibly shape a man to behave like this?

Garrus did not know, part of him wanted to, and part of him was terrified of learning the truth. Because he knew that this behaviour wasn't ordinary. This wasn't PTSD or anything like that, this was emotional detachment on a scale that Garrus didn't realise was possible.

The armored enigma suddenly brought up his right hand and began to interact with his wrist mounted computer. After a short interaction with it, there was a deadly bright flash outside.

The shockwave didn't reach the shuttle however, it was travelling too fast for that.

Everyone in the shuttle was a study in shock, before Shepard looked over at the Spartan with an impassive expression. Garrus had to stifle a laugh at the scene.

"So Six… mind telling me what just happened?" said Shepard innocently with a very small smirk.

Six looked down at the commander and cocked his head to the side before responding.

"I overloaded the reactor in order to destroy the stronghold," said the large human nonchalantly.

"You weren't kidding when you suggested blowing up the damn place… crazy bastard" muttered Zaeed with a chuckle.

Shepard's smirk turned into a grin.

"I've said it before and I'll say it again; leave it to you to not miss a single detail."

* * *

Smaller units have several advantages over larger ones. They are harder to detect, and can slip in behind enemy lines easier in order to accomplish covert ops that are of great importance and may turn the tide of larger strategic campaigns.

During the Covenant War, humanity's special forces regularly took part in such missions, they didn't rest often and were always on their toes when on the field. They were often tasked with sabotaging Covenant assets, assassinations, or intelligence gathering.

Spartan B312 was assigned on these missions regularly. Of course, being a Spartan, Mike would often be involved in other 'special' missions that standard special forces had no hope of accomplishing... nor the stomach to continue on with.

An armored death machine hidden in plain sight. It seems counterintuitive, but the abilities of Spartans often don't make sense to most.

In the end, valid intelligence usually draws the line between a successful campaign and a strategic disaster.

Mike was on edge, the presence of a third party within the stronghold was unexpected.

Snag…

That was what the Spartan was worried about. His instincts lit up like a christmas tree the second his armored form entered the shuttle for ingress.

Luckily, the threat was terminated and the encounter logged. Now it was time to bestow the intel upon Shepard's care. If there was anyone who had a way of determining the third party, it was Shepard.

Six snapped to attention in front of Shepard and Miranda. His right hand was a blur, yet directed a perfect precision that would make a drill sergeant green with envy.

He clasped his powerful gauntlets behind his back and spread his legs apart slightly.

Both the commander and Miranda looked surprised and confused too; the latter probably because Mike was still in full armor, but the former… Six was unsure.

"You know you don't need to salute me everytime we meet right?" said Shepard, he seemed uncertain of something. But what?

The Spartan only nodded. Strange, Miranda didn't seem to be wearing that look of hostility like she originally did, just her usual wooden expression.

"Well, before you go on and show us your encounter, I'd like to start with saying thank you," Six's head cocked to the side. The man sounded sincere. But why? There is no need to thank him for simply performing his duty.

Shepard continued though, either unaware of Six's apparent confusion or simply not caring. "You exceeded my expectations by inconceivable margins, and you saved our asses too," Shepard smirked at that remark. "I'm glad that you're with us."

"I… agree. Without your help, we might not have all made it out of there," stated Miranda, if only begrudgingly.

"I was only performing my duty, sir," replied Six nonchalantly. The smirk on Shepard's face died down fairly quickly.

"Okay, why don't you show us what happened in there?" suggested Shepard.

Mike nodded and made his way over to the holotable, using his armor's communication suite, he uploaded the appropriate visual package to the holotable in mere microseconds.

A two dimensional screen was projected and the engagement was played out in stunning detail from Six's point of view. The Spartan made a mental note to slow down the footage so that Shepard and Miranda could actually comprehend what was going on.

At such a slow pace, Six was able to observe the way these hostiles fought. Their movements were incredibly precise, and their skill had to be the result of rigorous training.

Mike's cold calculating eyes turned to Shepard. The ex spectre had a look of confusion, before it settled to suspicion, as if he could recall from memory what he was looking at.

Miranda was a different story. Her usually calm and emotionless expression was instead a study in shock and even a little horror.

She knew what they were.

Six held up his tacpad and paused the recording; Miranda had the answer, her expression said it all. Mike clasped his armored gauntlets behind his back and spread his feet apart slightly, waiting patiently for an answer that he knew he might not like.

Shepard looked at Six in confusion for a second, before realization dawned on him and he too focused his gaze on Miranda.

"I take it that you know something we don't Miranda?" deadpanned Shepard, his impassive expression turned into a withering glare within a instant.

The Cerberus operative looked at the ground as if in shame. She took a deep breath and stared back at the commander, it was not one of defiance, but one that desperately conveyed the need for urgent attention.

"They… they are Cerberus operatives," admitted Miranda, she was practically whispering at this point.

Mike's brain immediately kicked into action upon learning of this revelation. Why would Cerberus send operatives to the Normandy's destination without notifying the Normandy?

Could it be miscommunication, a lack of time and thus merely a desperate deployment to prevent Alliance secrets from falling into enemy hands? Or could it be something else? Maybe something more sinister?

The Normandy is a Cerberus vessel, and Mike has come to know how security paranoid the shadowy group is, surely The Illusive Man would know at all times the location of the vessel and its destination, allowing him to inform Shepard of the presence of Cerberus operatives arriving at the same destination to prevent friendly fire.

But that didn't happen.

The Illusive Man should have had plenty of time to inform them regardless of how desperately he had to deploy troops.

So what could it be?

Mike turned off his external speakers as realization began to dawn on him. He checked his motion tracker and used subtle movements of his head to scan the room.

All clear.

Still, the super soldier's muscles coiled up in case of an ambush.

"Sigma, are you thinking what I'm thinking?" questioned Six as everything seemed to get quieter, even Shepard's and Miranda's debate about Cerberus's presence.

" _Yes Six, I've ran through all of my theories several million times each and then cross referenced them with Cerberus's goals and the very limited information about their chain of command. They came for you,"_ confirmed the AI. Even Sigma was on edge. Mike isn't used to his digital friend behaving in such a manner.

His muscles tensed even more as his soldier's instincts lit up like a christmas tree.

MJOLNIR's gauntlets groaned in protest, and Miranda and Shepard both ceased their conversation before looking at the Spartan in surprise and a little bit of uneasiness.

"Are you okay?" asked Shepard in a soft voice. Mike only nodded.

Shepard, however, didn't look convinced.

"They came for me," elaborated the Spartan as his muscles relaxed slightly, though he still observed his surroundings with the subtle, almost impossible movements of his head, and the use of his motion tracker.

What Six said seemed to have set off alarm bells within both of them as their countenances became a study of concern.

"That explains why they didn't make an effort of retrieving the captured intel. They might have attempted to either kill him for his equipment or simply test him in combat," explain Miranda, her dread seemed to be spreading onto her face like some sort of infection.

This also set off alarm bells for Mike. He wasn't expecting Cerberus to react that quickly to his introduction to this new galaxy, never mind sending a hit squad to possibly target him on his first mission with Shepard. If this continues to be a problem, then drastic measures may have to be taken to deal with Cerberus.

"Commander, how are we to proceed in the event of future encounters?" as much as Six would have no problem eliminating Cerberus operatives without hesitation, his commanding officer may see differently… and good soldiers follow orders.

Shepard seemed to mull it over his fingers began to tape against the surface of the holotable as thoughts seemed to fire back and forth in a mental conflict that would decide Mike's own autonomy as a soldier responding to threats.

He couldn't blame Shepard, he did technically work for Cerberus, though the lone wolf could tell that he didn't like it. Still, pissing off the organization that has provided him with some of his most important assets may not be the best course of action at this moment. Miranda's glare also seemed to be attempting to prevent the commander from deciding on anything 'drastic'.

After about a minute, the commander ceased his thought process and stared into Six's visor.

"This is a delicate situation here… I don't want to piss of The Illusive Man if I can help it. It won't help us in the long run," Six nodded in understanding; the best course of action may not always be obvious, and even if it is, no plan can really survive contact with the enemy. All they can do is adapt.

Miranda's expression seemed to soften and return to its standard impassiveness.

"If we ever do come into contact with Cerberus operatives, you let either Miranda or myself do the talking… understand?" Six nodded.

" _It doesn't seem Shepard trusts you to take their presence lightly Six,"_ said Sigma almost humorously despite the situation.

Mike turned off his external speakers. "They engaged first."

" _I know Six. It's just… this isn't our galaxy, you can't just go around slaughtering everyone you see. Remember, we technically aren't even fighting a real war,"_ explained Sigma with what sounded like a hint of sadness almost… why?

"But… if they do engage first, then you may eliminate them," stated the commander, cutting off Mike's thoughts.

That didn't seem to sit well with Miranda.

"Shepard, they are our allies-" began Miranda.

"Allies don't cut off and attempt to eliminate your squadmates like that. They weren't here to help us dammit, they almost jeopardized the mission!" staccatoed Shepard as the volume of his voice increased until he was almost yelling.

Miranda seemed to be visibly struck as she recoiled slightly from the verbal assault.

" _She's awfully loyal to Cerberus… I wonder why,"_ began Sigma before suddenly trailing off.

Mike wanted to retort, knowing that the AI was about to dive headfirst into classified information. But Six knew it was pointless. Telling Sigma to not hack into classified databases was like telling a M9 high explosive dual purpose grenade not to detonate after impacting the ground.

"I understand why you'd be against shooting fellow operatives, but this is different Miranda. We need to defeat the collectors, to protect humanity. That's the goal of Cerberus, right? To protect humanity no matter the cost. We'll have to make sacrifices, we can't just let them put everyone in danger just because you feel it is wrong to kill those you deem an ally," Six found himself nodding in agreement; well played, very well played.

He reminded Miranda of her own organization's main goal, and reminded her of the sacrifices needed to achieve that goal. It was a simple psychological trick, but an effective one.

" _After going through my files Six, I've come to realize just how similar Shepard and Spartan A259 really are,"_ said Sigma.

"Yes…" agreed Mike as he looked down at the floor for a brief second before looking back at Miranda to gauge her reaction.

Her anger seems to have subsided and an expression of understanding seems to have taken over. That is good; every asset must have good morale and have to establish an agreement with their commanding officer.

"I understand," relented Miranda begrudgingly.

Shepard smiled and then looked back at Six who simply nodded.

"I believe everything has been taken care of then," Said Shepard. "There's nothing more that needs to be done, I recommend that the two of you take a breather from that hectic shitstorm while I have a friendly chat with The Illusive Man," Six only saluted his commander.

Shepard returned that salute before retreating out of the room.

Six watched the commander quickly walk out of the room before he too followed.

"So how did you do it?" the question stopped Mike in his tracks. He found himself surprised considering the person that just asked him that strange question.

The super soldier turned around to face Miranda. The woman was simply standing in her original position with her arms crossed and a facial expression that all but demanded attention.

Mike cocked his head to the side, in question.

Miranda sighed. "How did you come out of that fight unscathed, those are some of the most elite forces that Cerberus can field."

She was curious, but not in the way most would think. So Mike settled for an answer that would probably satisfy anyone but her.

"I remembered my training, and responded accordingly to the threat," deadpanned Six. Miranda's only response was the scowl that began to find purchase on her face.

Mike turned around and left the room; it was time for some post mission armor maintenance.

" _Well played Six, well played,"_ chuckled Sigma.

But the laughter fell on deaf ears. A new problem has presented itself, far earlier than what Six would have anticipated. A strategy will need to be developed, and a course of action followed.

* * *

"So can you explain to me what happened down there?"

The Illusive Man's synthetic looking eyes simply stared back at Shepard in what appeared to be mock confusion.

"Shepard, you need to elaborate-" began the Cerberus Leader in a vain attempt to throw off the commander.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about. What the hell were Cerberus operatives doing in that facility without me knowing and why did they attack one of my squadmates!?" Shepard's anger grew the more he talked to this insufferable man.

The way he pleaded ignorance despite the situation being obvious angered the ex spectre to no end. It was like The Illusive Man saw Shepard as merely a child, easy to manipulate and use, but lacking in self awareness or common sense to figure out the most obvious of things.

The Illusive Man sighed. "Those operatives were there long before you arrived Shepard. They had the same goal as you," Shepard clenched his jaws in response.

"Then why the hell were they hiding in there the whole time if they got here long before us? They had active camouflage, why the hell didn't they exfil?" retorted Shepard angrily.

"The answer is simple Shepard," began the Cerberus leader in a condescending tone. "It was you and your team, when you attacked, the base was alive with activity, they had no way to escape without being spotted, so they instead hid waiting for their chance to escape," Shepard looked at the floor; that was a good point…

But it wasn't good enough.

"So how can you explain them separating my squadmate from the rest of the team and engaging him even though he didn't engage them first?"

The Illusive Man took a sip of alcohol before staring into Shepard's eyes.

"I gave them orders to engage without hesitation anyone that compromises them. That was just an unfortunate occurrence that your squadmate arrived on scene," Shepard sighed; say what you would about The Illusive Man, but he certainly isn't moronic… usually.

Shepard mulled over the Cerberus leader's words. The Illusive Man knows what he's talking about. The operatives that he dispatched definitely seem to specialize in stealth. The fact that Six detected them only served to validate The Illusive Man's claim that the Spartan compromised them and thus they engaged them out of self defence, and not because their main objective was actually the super soldier.

It was a solid argument… except for the fact that The Illusive Man forgot about two very important details.

"If what you say is true and your operatives were trying to maintain stealth at all times, wouldn't it be counterintuitive for them to close a multi ton door behind unsuspecting guests? If anything, that just makes enemies more suspicious and results in a higher chance of detection. Besides, if your operatives were really here for the intel, then we wouldn't have found them in their database because your operatives would have deleted them," Shepard watched The Illusive Man's confidence fade into a wooden expression. He was trying very hard to control his emotions and the ex spectre struggled to not unleash a feral grin.

The Illusive Man sighed and took a long sip of alcohol.

"I was not privy to that information, I'm sure that there was some form of miscommunication among them and I can assure you that their presence had nothing to do with you or your unusual ally," said The Illusive Man with what Shepard knew in an instant was mock sympathy.

The ex spectre kept the scowl off of his face however.

"In the meantime, I want you to continue to build up your team while I track the Collector's movements, we all must be ready for anything. I'll let you know as soon as the Collectors are about to make a move," Shepard mentally sighed; he knew that the enigmatic man was hiding something from him, it was obvious. But the Cerberus leader was too stubborn to admit anything even though Shepard has him in a tight spot.

"Understood," replied the commander nonchalantly hoping to hide is irritation from the bastard.

It worked and The Illusive Man merely nodded before his image disappeared from existence.

Commander John Shepard was flabbergasted by The Illusive Man's outright insane plea to ignorance in the face of overwhelming evidence and the ex spectre had half a mind to track him down and shoot the man for that reason alone.

However, despite how much Shepard despised The Illusive Man and his organization, he knew that they were helping them… for the most part.

They'll cross that bridge when it reveals itself.

For now, it was time to focus on the task at hand. Currently, Shepard had to get to the medbay before a certain doctor realized-

" _Shepard, doctor Chakwas has requested your presence in the medbay immediately. Though I am unaware of the reasons, I must notify you that she is displaying human aggression. I suggest tasking Kelly in order to remedy her mental state,"_ deadpanned EDI.

Shepard's heart skipped a beat.

' _Shit'._

"Thank you EDI, gotta go now!" replied Shepard frantically as his legs, despite the pain one of them were in, carried him at an alarming speed in hopes of keeping the doctor's temper from flaring up.

* * *

"You should have seen the pile up of bodies before you guys showed up!" said Garrus proudly with that turian grin of his, Grunt only scowled while Jacob chuckled before returning to his meal.

The mess hall was fairly empty at this particular hour. Most non essential crew members 'hit the sack' to use the human term once both the assault and exfil teams returned from the clusterfuck of a mission.

Those that were injured went straight to the medbay and made a speedy recovery thanks to modern medical miracles.

Shepard himself got a nice dressing down courtesy of doctor Chakwas. At least, that was what Jacob told him when the three of them went to get a meal. Jacob could not stress the wince that was slowly making its presence known on the commander's usually confident and calm expression.

Garrus spent the next few minutes laughing quite heavily as he allowed the comical scene to play in his head.

Commander Shepard, the saviour of the Citadel, the first human spectre and the man who spoke with a damn Reaper, cowering before doctor Chakwas.

"Hiding behind a sniper rifle is cowardly, no honor. That means no recognition," declared the giant lizard in a manner that deemed any form of counter argument futile.

Jacob stared at the krogan in a way that simply conveyed 'really?'

"It is much more better to charge into groups of enemies and cut them down," continued Grunt, not missing a beat really as this conversation tends to come up a lot with him.

"Yes, but you run the risk of getting surrounded and killed. I mean, with a sniper, you can lock down a large area. You can kill dozens without them even knowing where you are," argued the turian in hopes of at least getting the krogan to understand.

"Exactly!" Garrus smiled; maybe there's hope just yet.

"All you do is hide from battle, it is cowardly. You have nothing to prove," the ex C-Sec officer frowned; perhaps not.

"It's not so much about glory, Grunt. It's about efficiency. I don't know about you, but a single sniper can sometimes achieve more than an entire squad," explained Jacob, prompting Garrus to smile at the extra support.

The krogan softly growled in irritation. "You squishies will never understand."

Garrus sighed in defeat; it was like trying to pacify a krogan; damn impossible.

"So, I heard that Six made his big debut," began Garrus.

Jacob chuckled bitterly.

"That would be an understatement," responded Jacob.

He leaned forward, putting his elbows on the table before fixing Garrus with quite the intimidating stare.

"Half the time I couldn't even see him how fast the guy is. His situational awareness is like the human form of EDI's. He sees damn near everything and reacts so fast that he is just a blur moving through the battlefield," his expression hardened as he continued.

"He's not afraid to get dirty either. Scorched a bunch of batarians with some incendiary grenades just to cover us. I don't think I'll ever forget those screams," the turian found himself very unnerved as Jacob finished up. Jacob is one of the best soldiers he's ever seen, tough as hell and very difficult to scare.

But seeing Jacob unnerved made the turian unnerved too.

Garrus has never seen Six in combat, only glimpses of his strength and running speed… as well as the aftermath of his presence.

He knew that if the Spartan wanted everyone dead, they'd already be.

For what it's worth, he was glad that he was on their side, even though he is quite intimidating.

"Hey," called out Garrus, Jacob looked into the turian's eyes but said nothing.

"He's on our side, just remember that," assured the sniper. Jacob nodded and the marksman noticed the tension in the human disappear.

Garrus saw movement out of the corner of his eye, he turned his head to address the presence.

His eyes widened slightly as he perceived the armored form of Six making his way over to Rupert.

Six's movements were so fluid, far too fluid for any organic being. He practically glided across the floor without making a sound.

 _Spirits, how can someone so large and heavy move so quietly?_

The massive soldier took a tray filled to the brim with food from the nervous mess sergeant. He nodded in appreciation before turning around and leaving.

Surely he'd have noticed their presence, so why was he ignoring them?

"Hey Six, want to come join us?" called out the turian. Jacob and even Grunt appeared to be surprised at the Spartan's unexpected appearance.

Six stopped dead in his tracks, before turning around a staring at the trio with that golden visor of his. The turian felt as if he was being analyzed by the Spartan, a pair of cold, calculating eyes that took in every detail as if he were just a lab specimen. Garrus shuddered slightly at the thought.

Spirits, what was he doing? Obviously this guy didn't want to be here, so why was he offering him a seat?

Garrus still didn't get an answer from the warrior, his body hasn't even moved at all. There was just so much hesitation. Is that good? He didn't say 'no' instantly so that must count for something.

"Ok."

Garrus's brain did a backflip. He said yes? The turian wasn't expecting that, and judging by the way Jacob and Grunt were looking at Six, they weren't expecting it either.

From what the marksman has seen of Six, he seemed to be the very definition of antisocial. Still, it was kind of comforting that the human killing machine actually seemed okay sitting with them.

"You did some good work out there, we probably wouldn't have succeeded without you," said Jacob.

However, Six didn't seem to be one for compliments judging by his reply.

"I was only doing my job," his voice was a deadpan, impossible to get a read on what he was feeling.

The Spartan was about to sit down next to Jacob on the left when he seemed to hesitate.

Garrus understood however.

"Don't worry that bench can hold a krogan easily, I'm sure you'll be fine," Six only nodded before he slowly sat down. The bench groaned in protest but otherwise held.

Spirits, Grunt weights a little over nine hundred pounds and the bench doesn't make a sound when it is subjected to his weight.

"Damn, you're heavy, how much do you weigh in that thing?" questioned Jacob with an equal amount of surprise.

"Fourteen hundred and fifty pounds," replied the Spartan nonchalantly.

"Getting into a grappling match with you wouldn't exactly be healthy then," joked Jacob with a chuckle. Garrus and the previously irritated krogan both chuckled as well. Though not a sound came from Six.

Silence took hold of the room and Garrus found himself nervous once more.

"Have we been given a new mission?" Garrus blinked; surprised that Six actually attempted to start up a conversation.

"Not at the moment no," said Jacob. "Shepard will let us know whenever the Normandy is off to a new destination. For now, we can relax for a few days."

The Spartan nodded, his gauntlets began to reach up for his helmet.

Garrus's breath caught in his throat, he's never seen Six's face before. In fact, possibly the only two crew members besides EDI that have actually seen the man's face is Shepard and Chakwas. The human seemed to be attached to his armor, as if it were a home. But Garrus couldn't really blame him.

With a twist and a hiss of air the helmet came off and without knowing it, Garrus Vakarian became one of the few non UNSC personnel to actually look into Six's eyes and live to tell about it.

His brown eyes were as hard as steel and threatened to pierce through the bulkhead with the intensity of its glare. Many microscopic scars seemed to litter the human's face. They say that each scar has a story to tell. Well Six's face seemed to be a miniature library with its crown jewel being the large scar that ran down the bottom half of his forehead, over his left eye, and halfway down his cheek.

Garrus also noted that his skin was quite pale, kind of like Miranda's, more proof that Six's armor seemed to double as a mobile home.

His black hair was trimmed to military regulation for humans, since turians don't have hair on their heads. Despite how emotionless Six seemed, along with all of the other aforementioned details, perhaps the most shocking thing of all was his age.

He had to be in his late twenties, far too young to have that much combat experience, and far too young to be that serious, to be that mature. It was unnerving, it didn't feel right, but most of all, it was fucking scary.

Garrus wanted to ask him. Ask him when he joined the military, ask him where he got all of that combat experience from. But dammit he just couldn't. He knew that Six would probably claim that the answer is classified, or he might piss off the single most dangerous being he has ever seen.

So the marksman left it at that; he'd say nothing.

He continued to observe the human even as he wolfed down his large meal, very sure of the fact that Jacob and maybe even Grunt were observing him too.

Those serious eyes continued to observe the environment, observing _them._

"First time seeing your face Six, do you always wear your armor?" inquired Jacob. Garrus mentally thanked Jacob for being the calm soldier he is and relieving an awkward and maybe even tense situation.

"Usually," responded Six, before resuming his eating.

"So I take it you are in combat often then?"

"Correct," that's it, just the same one worded responses, as if the concept of conversations was foreign to Six.

"Heh heh, I like this human, he doesn't talk as much as the other squishies," stated Grunt happily as he stared at the large human with a toothy grin.

"I've heard a few things from Shepard about you… it is still difficult to believe that you come from a different reality," admitted Jacob.

"I agree, what's your universe like?" said Garrus, he leaned forward as if the man was going to tell him an intriguing story, which essentially he was.

Six finished his meal and sat as if he were sitting on a chair that was covered in nails. He hesitated, likely trying to filter out the 'classified' bits. Honestly Garrus thought that he'd be able to read Six's expressions if he didn't have his helmet on. It seems that the turian was mistaken however.

"Humanity in my universe has expanded to a more significant degree," said Six.

Jacob, being the only human at the table, seemed the most interested.

"How much did your humanity expand?" he said.

"By the twenty sixth century, humanity colonized about eight hundred worlds, and the population grew to three hundred and forty two billion."

There was an intense silence as Jacob and Garrus tried to imagine such a scale. Almost three hundred and fifty billion spread out across eight hundred worlds!? Humanity in this galaxy could only dream of expanding to such a degree.

"Spirits… that's amazing," whispered Garrus in awe.

"Twenty sixth century? So Shepard wasn't kidding then. Your humanity must have come a long way," said Jacob excitedly.

Six nodded but said nothing more.

"Bah, this is boring," said Grunt in a surprisingly childish manner. He stood up from the table suddenly and left without saying another word.

Jacob pressed on with the questions however, as if he was unaware of Grunt's existence.

"Must have been quite the paradise before those aliens showed up," surprisingly, Six shook his head in the negative.

"There were insurrectionists committing acts of terrorism long before the Covenant arrived," said Six.

Garrus wasn't too surprised thought. It was in the nature of sentient beings to wage war unfortunately. The turian supposed that Jacob's excitement of learning about this new humanity's advancements made him come up with such assumptions.

"How did your military deal with it?" asked Garrus.

"Small scale military engagements were common. There were however the occasional large scale campaigns either in orbit or on planets," it was a vague answer, but it was the best one that Six has given so far. It seemed that they were making progress.

Pirates were a very real problem when military ships were travelling through the not so civilized portions of civilization. Though these engagements were mostly small scale, and the military usually won if they were prepared. If humanity has expanded so much in Six's universe, then their military was likely immensely powerful in order to protect and unify such a massive population and all of those planets. In order to oppose a government like that, Garrus would hazard a guess that these insurrectionists were definitely no joke. Engagements were most certainly very violent.

"How did the Spartans fit into this?" asked Jacob.

"Most information about Spartans is highly classified. However, I can tell you that Spartans were originally designed to put down the insurrection due to the highly projected probability of a large scale and violent civil war," replied Six.

Spirits… these merciless killing machines were designed to slaughter rebels? It must not have ended well for the rebellion.

"The insurrectionists suffered tremendous losses, and they would have been completely eradicated had the Covenant not declared war," continued the Spartan with his bare bones basic history lesson.

"What happened?" asked Jacob. But to his disappointment, Six didn't respond. Instead, he stood up from the bench, which groaned in relief, before placing his helmet back on his head, hiding that impassive face behind the emotionless golden visor.

"I will explain another time, I need to train," said Six, as if the curiosity of a fellow human meant nothing to him.

Who trains right after an intense mission for Spirit's sake?

He left without saying another word, his impossibly fluid movements carried the half ton soldier across the metal floor without a single sound being emitted.

Garrus watched the human depart, and felt as if he had more questions than ever, as if those answers did nothing to satisfy his curiosity but simply resulted in the creation of more questions ready to bombard the armored enigma should he make his presence known again.

"You think he's hiding something?" the turian was cut from his musing. He turned to face Jacob. The veteran seemed impassive at first glance, but Garrus detected the traces of concern fairly quickly thanks to his experience dealing with humans.

"Maybe, though I feel like it might be something personnel, or maybe he is afraid of us learning about something. You know, like he is harbouring some kind of dark secret, and talking about the war he fought in might end up revealing it to us," said Garrus, whispered almost, as if unsure of himself.

Jacob examined the turian for a second.

"Since when does a man like that know the concept of fear? I mean, look at him. Nothing fazes him, he has almost no emotion. He's like a machine Garrus, and machines don't have feelings," retorted Jacob rather aggressively.

The turian knew that his friend was on edge. Everything about Six seemed to be classified, and no one liked classified information. Whatever Six was hiding probably won't harm the Normandy and its crew, but Garrus understood nonetheless.

The turian sighed. "Maybe the war sucked all of the emotion out of him. I've seen enough veterans to know that. But none of them have an emotional detachment to the extent of Six," admitted Garrus, if somewhat hesitantly.

He wanted to get to know the human, the turian saw a friend beneath that armour. Someone he could trust and someone that could trust him back. He still has yet to perfect his marksman skills in order to beat the guy.

"Maybe you're right," relented Jacob after several seconds of mental conflict. "I guess only time will tell. Look, it was nice talking with you, the big lizard, and the walking enigma, but I'm tired as hell," said Jacob. The man stood up and made to leave and get some much needed rest.

"See you around Garrus," the turian only nodded as he watched the veteran leave.

Garrus, after a moment of enjoying the silence, stood up and decided that sleep would be a good idea right now. Any concerns that he has now will be dealt with when he wakes up later.

* * *

Billions of calculations and thoughts raced across Sigma's matrix every second as he considered the implications of Cerberus's desire to get a hold of Six's equipment. He originally calculated a 5.09 percent chance of the shadowy organization taking action this early. It seemed that the odds were stacked against them once again however.

The AI knew Cerberus's operational parameters and was very aware of their effectiveness as a small scale force that excels in hit and run tactics and espionage. A Cerberus spy aboard the Normandy is definitely within the realm of possibility. While they had no hopes of acquiring any of Six's equipment, intelligence gathering can still be problematic.

Even without the presence of Cerberus sleeper cells, he knew that The Illusive Man had probably hundreds of pieces of surveillance equipment onboard this small vessel. In order to protect them from the prying eyes of Cerberus, the AI has made sure to tamper with the surveillance equipment in any room that Six is in, putting the cameras on repeating loops.

Sighing to himself, the AI cycled through the Normandy's cameras. Most of the ship was empty, with the crew getting some sleep. Joker seemed to be ranting to himself about not putting his skills to good use since Shepard ordered the pilot to hide the Normandy behind the planet's moon as the batarians continued their futile search in the planet's orbit and on its surface.

Thanks to the Normandy's stealth systems, the batarians didn't detect the ship and still believe that they are trying to escape using the much smaller and slower kodiak which isn't as refined in space travel as any large military warship.

Sigma, not quite knowing what to do with himself, dove deep into the extranet, eager to acquire new knowledge. There was much that this galaxy had to offer technology wise, things that the UNSC could make use of. Using element zero in tandem with their already incredibly powerful magnetic accelerators would allow the three thousand ton tungsten projectile to be accelerated far faster than what it is currently capable of. Sigma suspected that fusing the two technologies would allow such a weapon to achieve explosive yields in the very low teratons.

The AI paused for a microsecond to comprehend such power. An ODP's projectile would punch clean through several Covenant CSO supercarriers rather than bouncing off of its shields. That would have changed the course of the war, it would have changed the outcome of Reach probably, had the Covenant ground forces not disabled the orbital network's generators.

While the ODPs kept most of the Covenant ships from landing troops. Some always did make it through thanks to the alien empire's sheer tenacity. Ground troop casualties would constantly peak, and the UNSC had difficulties dealing with the brutal injuries that a plasma burn would offer to a human. Bio-foam would only seal wounds for so long before it broke down and the foam had to be reapplied for proper medical attention.

Sometimes the medics never arrived… and the wounded would die a long agonizing death sometimes due to injuries that won't cauterize the wounds, or infection. Medi-gel would have saved a lot of those lives, healed minor wounds, prevented more from suffering.

As Sigma watched Six train, he thought back to when he was first assigned to the Spartan, four years ago. The man was quiet, damn near emotionless, but still held a sliver of his humanity. There was times when a joke would be made, a laugh would be shared, and a mission would be accomplished before the process would repeat itself… after the Human Covenant War of course, when Six's existence wasn't kept a highly guarded secret.

Six was ruthless, efficient, and terrifying for even fellow UNSC soldiers. But there was always a beating human heart in that augmented and tortured body. Somewhere there is a child that hasn't developed to understand what life truly is, to understand that life is not war and war is not life.

This soldier is honourable, yet vicious, almost animalistic in the way he kills his enemies. This soldier is a war hero, yet still considered a war criminal among most who know his history. He is quiet yet his actions speak louder than his words. He is strong yet broken.

But most of all, he is a soldier, but he is still human.

Sigma still worried for the silent soldier. The AI had to admit that he was surprised and quite happy that the soldier was willing to eat with some of the other crew and even continue a simple conversation with him. Six's social skills were improving. That's what it meant.

Still, the man trained constantly as if he was possessed and forced to do it against his own will.

"Six, I think you've trained enough," said Sigma. The Spartan continued unperturbed however as his fists continued to blur, making contact with a foe that existed within the realm of his own imagination.

"Six, I know you can hear me," persisted the AI, his voice grew stern.

But it seemed that the Spartan III was in a world of his own, completely oblivious to the AI's calls.

"Six!" the AI yelled within the confines of MJOLNIR. The Spartan stopped instantly and stood ramrod straight.

"Enough's enough," droned Sigma in a deadly voice as his anger almost overcame him. "You've been training for two hours. Go and sleep, you can train after," the AI added in the last bit begrudgingly in hopes of coming to a compromise.

The super soldier nodded before silently laying down next to the UNSC crates, and falling asleep in an instant.

That was unlike him. Six was silent not mute. Something had to be done, and the AI feared that it would involve more than just his intervention.

The AI 'frowned' but said nothing more as he decided to focus his attention on the batarians.

Currently, they represented the biggest threat besides the Collectors and Reapers. It seems that their wealth and force projection far exceeded expectations and the AI had no doubt the revenge will be on their minds for a long time to come. It meant that they had to tread lightly. An engagement with any group of enemy ships can be fatal.

The UNSC intelligence was confident that they managed to cover up their tracks from any prying eyes trying to pick up their scent, so to speak. Still, it never hurts to double check.

So that was what the AI sought to do. His presence pierced through their firewalls like a kinetic kill APFSDS spearing through armor. The resistance was minimal but still quite impressive for what most would think would be an under equipped band of pirates. There are bigger things at work here, and Sigma wanted to find out what it was.

The files that Sigma pulled were nothing new, this was as far as they got during their stay at the stronghold. The AI decided to dig deeper, aggressively tearing through firewalls and ripping apart files searching for anything that might be worthy of his attention.

He found nothing, but that didn't mean that he could celebrate.

He found a specific file titled 'High Value Targets'.

He 'reached out' for the file and tore its feeble security apart.

There was so many names. Turian, human, asari, krogan…even batarians. They certainly didn't discriminate. The reasons for their status as an HVT varied from mundane things such as speaking out against the hegemony, to assassinating persons of interest, to even smuggling products that would be considered competition to the many illegal groups of Omega.

The point is, the Hegemony has its hands deep in everyone's pockets, and most of those pockets belong to illegal entities. No surprise there though, the AI was certain that those pirates were funded by the Hegemony.

But he wasn't concerned about that at the moment. He was more worried about keeping the heat off of the Normandy and its crew.

Sigma continued to search through the file and stopped.

'John Shepard'.

Ah, so he was on their shit list. That isn't much of a surprise though, the commander was probably marked for death ever since the Skyllian Blitz. What amused the AI was the fact that the commander was marked as 'terminated by unknown means'. Of course, the AI knew all about the commander's death and resurrection. This is good though; why would anyone spend time chasing ghosts?

The UNSC AI didn't have to worry about the commander being hunted down by a bunch of insane 'vigilanties' so he continued down the list, smirking as he past 'Archangel'. It took him a full microsecond to take in all of the information… but he _still_ wasn't satisfied.

His interest peaked, and then peaked again as he noticed a sub file titled 'Unknowns'.

The AI felt dread as he opened up the file, and its secrets poured out to him like a waterfall. A waterfall of truth, dreadful truth, not natural beauty like what it would normally be associated with.

There was few things that could surprise the AI, and fewer that could shock him to the point of a period of paralysis that would last a few nanoseconds.

It was _impossible_.

The AI recognized the armored soldier in an instant. Clad in heavy armor impervious to small arms fire and heavily resistant to even autocannon fire. That golden visor staring at opponents that had no hope of survival in the first place.

It's impossible. Right?

It isn't apparently. It is very real.

The AI instantly deleted all of the information pertaining to his armored companion's very existence. But he knew that it was too late. He knew that the damage has already been done. The AI's efforts were nothing more than damage control. But damage control usually yielded results worth mentioning.

Sigma was certain that he eliminated the batarians' surveillance systems, they had no hope of regaining control. But maybe it wasn't the Batarians that exposed Six to the criminal underworld. Could it be Cerberus? It was a possibility, and definitely labelled Cerberus as a potential threat worthy of extensive monitoring.

Sigma pulled out of all of the files and retreated back through the firewalls. He observed the armored form of Noble Six peacefully within sleep's embrace. He will have to be informed, and the AI didn't know how the crew will react to a bunch of bounty hunters or batarians hit squads randomly attacking the Spartan on sight whenever they are not within the safety of the Normandy.

They'll start asking questions if Six explains the situation to them, and the AI had a sinking feeling that if they go along that path, Sigma's existence will be revealed to the crew a lot earlier than expected.

It ultimately depended on Six, he trusted the Spartan to make the right decision.

No matter how much it may deviate from everything that Six grew up learning,

* * *

The Illusive Man carefully took a sip from his glass of alcohol as he contemplated his next move.

The subject was good, very good. It made everything that he wanted to do that much harder.

All of the limitations of the human body are very clear to the Cerberus leader.

But… is it even human at this point? Maybe not, but it is certainly something that The Illusive Man felt that the rest of the human race needed. To be superior in every conceivable way.

He was stronger than a krogan… far far stronger in fact, he was hyper intelligent it seemed too. He is also fast, far faster than even a drell, with weapons and armor that would put the geth to shame.

It seemed that perhaps brute forcing the Spartan into giving up his secrets isn't the ideal option… if the recording from the nano bot had anything to say about it.

Maybe a scalpel would be the better option.

The problem is that the subject is highly paranoid and alert, anyone that he doesn't trust has no hope of getting the desired outcome. So the answer is someone that he _does_ trust.

As well as someone that he doesn't know works for Cerberus, so that crossed out pretty much anyone aboard the Normandy.

The man frowned, that was the best case scenario. He was hoping that the other scheme with the batarians that he has set in motion won't be needed, but the current situation provides evidence of the contrary.

That makes recovering the armor more difficult once the heat builds up and the subject becomes the obvious target. The batarians, of course, aren't aware of Cerberus's involvement with them, they just know the man responsible for the last two fiascos courtesy of Cerberus. everyone knows that they are a vengeful bunch.

The Illusive Man poured himself another glass of whiskey to calm his nerves. He knew that he was playing with fire here. He knew that the aggressive response of the batarians will raise eyebrows from the Alliance. That fact that those pirates actually stole classified Alliance intel wouldn't help matters either.

A war between humans and batarians is something that The Illusive Man would like to avoid, since he knew that the Citadel would get involved considering humanity is part of the council now. This would spark one hell of a political shitstorm along with a violent war and that won't help Cerberus out at all.

Still, if in the end that man's secrets are obtained, he knew deep down that humanity would ascend far and beyond the comprehension of any other species that would witness it. It was a high price to pay for a greater cause.

The Illusive Man has learned long ago that the galaxy is just a giant tinderbox, and that all it took is for someone to light the match.

So why not take the risk for such a noble cause?

The Cerberus leader was cut from his thoughts as he heard the familiar sound of an incoming transmission. He answered the call and waited patiently to be informed.

"SIr, we've received word regarding the Collector's next move, all evidence seems to point to the next target being Horizon," said the operator on the other end, a youthful male whose voice was as dry as the deserts of Tuchanka.

"Very well, tell Miranda to inform Shepard and have him contact me immediately," replied the Cerberus leader without a second of hesitation.

"Yes sir," and with that, the transmission went silent.

The Illusive Man sighed as he waited for Shepard to contact him, knowing that he wasn't exactly going to have a civil conversation with the veteran.

Still, for all the trouble Cerberus has gone through to bring him back, the enigmatic man knew that him and his assets were worth it… oh _yes_ they were...

* * *

 **I was hoping to get this chapter out far earlier, but it seems that I have had a shortage of motivation this summer, much to my infinite annoyance. Though it seems in the end I have delivered… even though it is a little shorter than I hoped. But I suppose that can't be helped since I really didn't have anything else to add to the chapter without delving into what I have planned next. I just sincerely hope that this chapter is satisfactory for you guys.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer:** Any and all characters are not my own. Neither is the Halo and Mass Effect series.

 **Rated M**

 **Chapter 7 - Back on the Offensive**

* * *

"Horizon went dark not too long ago. We believe that the Collectors are responsible," the weight of The Illusive Man's words pressed down on Shepard's shoulders like deadweight. His breath caught in his throat and his heart skipped a beat. Shepard felt as if his legs were ready to give out… it was finally happening, a chance to take the fight to the Collectors, a chance to avenge the countless victims of this ridiculous crusade… a chance at redemption, to continue a soldier's duty.

For those few impossibly long seconds, one could hear a pin hit the floor before its announcement too faded and left behind an unbearable silence.

The commander took a deep breath, he needed to get his bearings straight, needed to take in this new information in a calm and collected manner. The ex Spectre cleared his throat.

"Are you sure?"

The Illusive Man took a long drag of his cigarette.

"Yes, they are the only ones who'd gain anything from attacking a colony of seemingly little strategic value. The only exception would be pirates, but they wouldn't have the capability to instantly disrupt a planet's communications," Shepard nodded, he didn't want to believe it at first, but now he has no choice.

"That means either the planet is under seige, or it will be soon," inferred Shepard.

"Precisely, which means that time is of the essence," The Illusive Man took a sip of alcohol. "Does Mordin have a countermeasure ready for the seeker swarms?"

Shepard shook his head in the negative, and inwardly grimaced at the realization of how unprepared they still are. "Not yet," he replied in a calm manner.

"That's a shame, hopefully he works well under pressure," the commander hoped so too.

If not, then they'd be screwed before the mission even really began. They had no other defense against those dreaded bugs.

"One more thing Shepard," began the Cerberus leader, he took another sip of alcohol painfully slow, as if the value of the liquid outweighed the existence of humanity itself. "It seems that one of your former crew, Ashley Williams, is stationed on Horizon," Shepard's eyebrows shot upwards.

Now that was unexpected news. He missed Ashley, she was a fantastic soldier and an excellent force multiplier to his team back when they were hunting down Saren. He smiled inwardly, with luck maybe he could convince her to join him in their campaign against the Collectors.

That is… if she is comfortable working on a Cerberus ship with a Cerberus crew… and a Cerberus AI.

Of course, that's if she survives the Collectors.

Shepard shook his head; none of that will happen, if there's anyone that can survive odds like that, it's Ashley.

But that also did raise some questions. Why was someone as valuable as Ashley stationed on some backwater colony? The whole reason such colonies exist is so people can get away from the Systems Alliance, they don't really seem to trust humanity's defense force.

"What could an Alliance soldier be doing out in the Terminus systems?" asked Shepard.

"Officially it's an attempt to improve Alliance relations with the outer colonies," Shepard nodded; he was expecting something like that.

"But they have to be up to something else. If they sent Commander Williams, then it must be something big," Shepard furrowed his eyebrows. What could the Alliance want with a backwater colony? It didn't make sense. Since the Terminus Systems are beyond the space administered by the Citadel or claimed by the Systems Alliance, there would be no reason to develop a secret operation to spy on or even sabotage the assets of any potential large scale threats such as the salarian STG, Batarian Hegemony, who absolutely hate humans, or even the Turian military with their significantly superior power.

Launching a campaign against slave traders and pirates threatening these colonies would require no secrecy. So what is Ashley really up to? He didn't know, and he never will just standing there thinking about it.

With that thought crossing his mind, Shepard's resolve strengthened; Horizon and Ashley are in danger, and if there's one important lesson that any soldier learns after their first few gunfights, it's that no gets left behind to die.

"I suppose I won't figure anything else out just standing here then. Send me the coordinates," said Shepard, just now hearing the unsaid order coming from him. With any other superior, Shepard wouldn't dare step out of line. But this is the leader of Cerberus… so why should he give a damn?

The Illusive Man, whether not hearing the tone of Shepard's voice, or not caring in the slightest, nodded and replied as he usually does. "Agreed, this is the most warning we've had Shepard. Good luck," and with that, the Illusive Man and the beautiful star behind him faded into nothingness, leaving an irritated and slightly concerned commander to himself.

The biotic took a deep breath; he needed to compose himself and push his emotions as far away from the mission as possible.

"Joker, set course for Horizon, I'm going to talk to the doctor and prep a team for ingress," ordered Shepard in that familiar confident voice that became so popular among those that heard the man talk.

"Understood commander."

Shepard nodded to himself, it shouldn't take long for them to reach Horizon, and when they do, the commander had a feeling that this wasn't exactly going to be an easy fight.

But that didn't matter, he had a planet to save, a galactic threat to eradicate, and an old friend to reacquaint with.

* * *

Kelly Chambers was a persistent woman whenever her occupation was concerned. The psychologist argued that she had to be whenever the mental well being of the crew was at stake. What some fail to grasp is that a soldier's mentality is just as important, if not even more important than their physical prowess and skills with a weapon. It was why the Illusive Man assigned her to this ship. She was the best at her job and a ship like the Normandy must be composed of nothing but the best. Anything less is a disgrace really.

After all, saving the galaxy is a _really_ stressful job.

Kelly had just left Miranda's office after receiving a barrage of curses and insults from the usually calm and collected woman. Yes, Miranda did seem more agitated than usual. Luckily it didn't take much effort to get the woman to spit it out.

Of course Kelly already had an idea of what was agitating Miranda when she took a quick peek at her computer and saw that she was requisitioning more listening devices and micro spy cameras from Cerberus.

But regardless, the Cerberus princess confirmed that the resident half ton death machine seemed to be the main reason for her agitation.

Chambers was very surprised, not much got under Miranda's skin, and certainly not in such a short amount of time.

Actually, Kelly completely forgot that Six even _existed_. The man really kept to himself within the Normandy's cargo bay. From what she heard from Shepard, the walking enigma went through one hell of a war.

So Kelly decided that checking up on the soldier would be a good idea, he must be extremely stressed, being pulled out of his own _universe_ and thrown into a new one before being pressed into combat again.

From Kelly's experience, no soldier should be able to stay completely calm after enduring such ordeals.

She waited patiently for the elevator to finish its slow journey into the bowls of the Normandy.

She's never seen the soldier before. What does he look like? Shepard briefly commented on his size, saying that the man was an absolute giant and as armored as a mako.

The last comment surprised Kelly. She could detect the humour in the man's voice but also caught wind of some underlying seriousness. Obviously Shepard isn't completely joking then. Many questions began to be asked to herself within her mind, and instead of answers, she only came up with more questions.

The yeoman knew she'd get her answers when the door opened and she stepping into the cargo bay.

It was nice and tidy as usual with the only real additions being the crates that the newcomer brought onboard.

She kept walking head on a swivel as she attempted to seek out the supposed 'giant of a man' but then froze.

She wasn't sure if her eyes were playing tricks on her, maybe she didn't get enough sleep, or maybe _she_ needed a psych eval. But Kelly assumed that anyone would feel half insane after feasting their eyes upon the strange thing moving around the cargo bay.

It was just a black blur, but it was so out of place, so surreal. It seemed so stupid to describe the sight as just a 'black blur' but that's all it was really. She had no way of discerning on other detail with how fast it was moving.

Was it real?

It seemed to move across the cargo bay with such gracefulness and speed that Kelly thought that the thing was hovering an inch off of the floor. Hardly any sound was emitted from whatever the hell it was doing.

She tentatively took a step forward, hoping to get closer to observe, while at the same time wondering if this was a good idea. Shepard also briefly commented on the soldier's lethality, stated it wiped out an entire company of Batarian soldiers and nonlethally took down Shepard and the rest of his team.

Kelly began to sweat bullets and shiver in fear as she realized that that very being was in the same room as her. Still, the yeoman was sure that Shepard was over exaggerating the skill of this thing, there was just no way anything like that could be possible. Ms. Chambers has come to be used to just how humble the commander is; he always tries to undermine his skill, preferring to be recognized as your average N7 soldier rather than the galactically renowned hero that he is known as.

The woman slowly calmed down as she remembered that little tidbit about the commander's personality, still, that didn't mean that the man isn't dangerous.

Her thoughts were cut off as the blur stopped, finally allowed her to take in the enigma's true form.

Her eyes widened as she took in just how simply massive the thing was. Shepard certainly wasn't exaggerating in that regard. Kelly had to guess that the top of her head would just manage to touch the bottom of his pectoral muscles if she stood up against him.

The jet black armor was very bulky, no thing had the right to move that quickly and gracefully carrying that much weight around. The heavy armored plates definitely look impervious to small arms fire, even if she had her sidearm with her, it would be useless against this massive soldier. Its golden visor stared at her emotionlessly, and Kelly had the sudden urge to turn around and run as fast as she can.

The large being cocked its head in question before it spoke.

"Can I help you ma'am?" the man spoke in an iron hard voice void of any emotion. She's dealt with his kind before; veterans beaten and bloodied from constant fighting. Whatever kind of war he fought in, it was definitely a big one.

Still, she couldn't help but shiver as she took in just how devoid of life the man sounded. If Shepard didn't tell Kelly that he was human, she would have instantly assumed that Shepard brought a mech onboard.

Kelly took in a deep breath and regained some of her confidence.

 _If he wanted to kill us, he would have done it by now._

"Hi, I'm Kelly Chambers, the ship's yeoman. I was hoping to get to know you since we haven't met before," Kelly inwardly praised herself for how quickly she managed to regain her confidence.

She frowned however when the only response she got out of the soldier was a curt nod.

So the man wasn't much of a talker then.

"What's your name?" asked the yeoman.

"Six," well then, Kelly can't really say she was satisfied with _that_ answer. That isn't a name. The yeoman assumed that it must have been a callsign used to identify him within a team. So he's using his callsign as his name? Either this guy was in the field for a really, _really_ long time, or…

"I meant your real name," clarified Kelly in the friendliest way possible, smile and all.

"Classified," yup, that was it. Special forces. Or maybe something else?

The yeoman frowned, but knew better than to try and pry. Multiple theories fired back and forth within her conflicted mind.

Could he be suffering from PTSD? It certainly was likely, all the more reason for the yeoman to be gentle with the questions and prying. She had to get to know the man, get him to trust her, develop a kind of friendship between the two. That's where trust comes from; a strong bond.

So that was what the yeoman was going to do; take things nice and slow.

"I understand," began Kelly as she made her way over to one of the crates that the Spartan brought on board.

But before she could get any closer, she felt a firm grip on her shoulder, completely stopping her dead in her tracks and halting any further movement.

Kelly felt her heart stop and her body temperature felt significantly lower than usual. Her eyes widened and the yeoman's breathing increased. Kelly was certain the all the colour from her face instantly drained too.

She didn't even _hear_ the soldier move… goodness he was fast too.

She slowly turned her head to the left to see the massive figure looming over her. Kelly wondered if she'd even get the chance to scream before her head was crushed into a fine pulp.

But Kelly's fear made it impossible to utter a sound. Her entire body began to shake violently like a leaf in the wind, she was at this point a quivering piece of flesh, petrified, unable to move or scream or even think.

Was this how she will die? Is she really going to-

"I wouldn't advise that ma'am," the iron hard voice was just as calm and emotionless as the last time he spoke, there was no malice or ill intent that the yeoman was aware of.

Is that a good thing? Kelly didn't know. What she _did_ know is that special forces members are trained to control their emotions. So the yeoman assumed that her chances haven't improved at all.

The iron grip suddenly subsided, and a modicum of confusion manage to slip its way into Kelly's mind.

"I rigged the crates with a stun device to prevent their contents from falling into the wrong hands."

Wait what?

Kelly sighed in relief and felt her entire body relax as the overwhelming fear was expelled from her body. She inwardly berated herself for getting so worked up for nothing. But could she really blame herself?

"You gave me quite the scare," admitted Kelly in a quiet voice.

She turned around and looked up into that visor, which was staring back at her. Though she didn't feel the same fear or nervousness like the first time she saw the armoured man. It occurred to her that the massive soldier was protecting her in a way, preventing her from being incapacitated by his own defensive measures.

She inwardly smiled at that thought, realizing that there is a human in that armored shell that cares for members of his own species.

Six took a step back, Ms. Chambers noticed that no sound came from the boot impacting the ground.

"Sorry," said Six, bowing his head slightly.

Kelly's eyebrows shot up momentarily, she wasn't expecting an apology, not from a soldier as solid and as stoic as Six. But what surprised her the most was the sincerity in his apology. It was hardly noticeable, in fact, the yeoman was surprised that she managed to catch it at _all_.

The Spartan then turned around and sat down on a neighboring crate before gesturing to a smaller one in front of him.

The psychologist smiled.

She sat down and waited for the soldier to say something, hoping that maybe he would find it in himself to start off the conversation.

But when the armored behemoth remained silent, Kelly frowned and realized that she would have to not only start the conversation off, but also guide the man through it.

"So, how do you feel? It must be very difficult being in your predicament," Kelly started off with a simple question, she wanted to gauge the soldier's reaction; how much he'll reveal and how much he'll keep a secret. The yeoman has had enough conversations with secretive special forces operatives to know that Six is the type of man to withhold a lot of information from anyone inquisitive enough to dare to even question him.

It was understandable of course, but no less annoying.

"I was at first confused," admitted the Spartan. "But I have a purpose for now, and that is what matters until I can return to the UNSC."

Ms. Chambers has had thousands of sessions with all kinds of people in her many years spent in her profession. Some of them were quite open with how they felt, others not so much. With the amount of experience Kelly has accumulated, she was beginning to think that she's heard it all, that she could not be anymore surprised with any answer that could be giving in response to her curiosity.

Six was surprisingly open, that is to say a little more open than a black hole. At least his answer wasn't the damnable 'classified' that Miranda has complained about time and time again when Kelly talked with her.

But to remain so calm… especially after being literally ripped from his own universe and stuffed into a new one, is not only mind bogglingly astonishing, but also absolutely disturbing.

He wasn't scared, wasn't traumatized… he was confused?!

Kelly stopped to get her bearings straight, work past the disbelief, and ask the next question.

"Uh… what purpose are you talking about?" asked Kelly hesitantly on autopilot while her brain took the brunt of the shock.

The Spartan didn't answer at first, which confused Kelly. Did he forget his purpose? Does he have amnesia? Or maybe that answer is classified as well?

The latter is the most likely, Kelly was certain that a special forces soldier wouldn't be able to function with amnesia.

But she did notice something.

His gauntlets twitched ever so slightly.

Confused, Kelly raised an eyebrow in question; what on Earth is he doing?

Slowly but surely, Six's gauntlets slowly rose up from his lap, as if the weight of a mako was pulling down on them.

The yeoman watched with fascination as the gauntlets reached the man's helmet, and with no small amount of hesitation, slightly twisted the helmet to the side, and removed it. It was such a slow process that it looked as if some little voice in the back of the man's head was telling him to remove the helmet even though the soldier seems to be against it.

The first feature that automatically caught the yeoman's eyes was the large scar on the left side of the man's face, she wondered how the hell he managed to get it… what the hell exists in his universe capable of cutting through the armor that he is wearing?

Kelly shuddered thinking about it.

The yeoman's eyes travelled over the man's face, observing the myriad of microscopic scars, before they settled on his dark brown eyes.

Kelly was one of the best at her profession, that was what she was told by many of her accomplices, she can read a person's facial expressions in the blink of an eye, and determine what that person is feeling based on that analysis alone.

But Kelly has never, _ever_ seen someone who could hide their emotions in the manner that Six can. The psychologist couldn't get a read on the human's expression no matter how much effort she put into it. It's as if someone literally reprogrammed his brain to wipe the concept of human emotions out of existence.

Still, Kelly learned a few things just from looking at those eyes.

They were cold, calculating, more so than any special forces operator she's ever seen. She could tell just from the way his eyes moved around scanning not just her, but their surroundings too, that this soldier carried himself in a methodical, mechanical way.

They were the eyes of a killer, an intelligent, efficient killer.

She shuddered and felt fear return in small portions.

"To protect humanity," the iron hard voice cut her off from her thoughts.

Kelly was taken aback… his purpose is to protect humanity?

The yeoman thought about exactly what that meant. Sure, it was the general duty of every human soldier to protect humanity… even from itself. But the way this man said it didn't sit well with the yeoman.

There was no pride, was no determination… there wasn't a single hint of emotion that existed within that hollow response that sounded like it came out of a broken VI. It was as if that response was the product of a constant reminder, a reminder that his life was not his own, a reminder that he has a lifelong debt to payoff fighting constantly, even if he doesn't know why he fights.

A reminder that he was born to die… but not before the enemy.

A reminder that he will expire once there is nothing left to kill. To be cast aside like a broken tool.

 _Like a broken tool._

Was he forced to fight against his will? Or is his emotionless deadpan a product of constantly being subjected to the horrors of war?

Kelly shuddered, she wanted to cry, wanted to know why this man seemed to be the way he is. She wanted to know his origins… or did she?

What would she do if she knew the truth? Smile in satisfaction? Comfort the Spartan as she did with any veteran that suffered more than any person should? Reel back in horror?

Kelly didn't know, maybe didn't even want to know, she's heard the saying that some secrets are best left a mystery… maybe that was the case here.

" _Noble Six, Commander Shepard has requested your presence in the laboratory,"_ deadpanned EDI unexpectedly, causing Kelly to jump slightly from surprise.

"Affirmative," replied the Spartan. If Kelly didn't know any better, she would have thought that the Spartan was competing with EDI to see who could pull off a better deadpan.

The difference was a minor one at best.

Six stood up quickly and placed his helmet back on, obscuring the only sign that proved that he was human behind that emotionless golden visor that has probably seen the deaths of more sentient beings than Kelly would want to know.

The giant of a man silently glided towards the elevator, as if the conversation he had with the yeoman meant absolutely nothing to him, as if Kelly didn't even exist.

"Wait," the Spartan stopped at the soft voice, surprising Kelly that he was able to even hear her how quiet she was.

He turned his head to the left slightly.

Kelly hesitated with her next words, unsure how the Spartan would react despite how meaningless the next statement would likely be to him.

"Thank you for taking the time to talk with me, and for being open," said Kelly, mustering the courage to put as much sincerity into her statement as possible.

"Of course," replied Six, he nodded before stepping into the elevator and disappearing within its maw.

The yeoman simply sat there, and stared at the door that separated her from the Spartan. Kelly realized just how fruitless the conversation really was though. She has more questions than answers now. Questions that she desperately wanted to find the answers to, answers that Kelly knew wouldn't just show up out of thin air.

Kelly sighed and looked at the floor, wondering how she would satisfy her curiosity, while at the same time failing to realize the implications of just what might happen if she delved into the mind of the man she spoke to just seconds ago.

* * *

"Excellent, you are here, should administer countermeasure immediately, perhaps even study the suit's workings… analysis may be required for countermeasure to be installed," Mordin was ecstatic, even for a salarian. The scientist might as well have injected himself with a kilogram of caffeine given the fact that the salarian looked to be on the brink on the brink of bouncing off the walls at the rate his excitement is increasing at.

There was a desperate pleading in Mordin's eyes as they simultaneously scanned every piece of the hulking behemoth's suit. Six simply stared down at the salarian, as if Mordin was an old friend that he was attempting to feign ignorance to in order to avoid embarrassment.

Of course, Mordin wouldn't know that, why would he care?

"That won't be necessary-" began Six.

"Nonsense! Countermeasure is required in order to prevent paralysis… though perhaps witnessing such an occurrence would prove fruitful to my studies," Said Mordin, completely ignoring the disturbed expressions that Shepard and Garrus were giving him.

"I'd recommend getting the upgrade Six, we have no clue whether or not your armor would be able to protect you," said Shepard.

Mordin grinned like a maniac at the support.

The Spartan spared Shepard a brief glance before turning towards Mordin.

"How do seeker swarms detect and paralyze their targets?"

"Simple, they can detect thermal signatures or the electrical signals emitted from the nervous system. They then latch onto a target and envelop them in a stasis field," the Spartan nodded.

Mordin waited for Six to speak but was confused when the Spartan said nothing, he didn't even move. The human just stood there as if, funnily enough, he was paralyzed by the same foe whose capabilities Mordin was just explaining.

"Uh, Six… you alive in there?" asked Garrus, speaking for the first time since the Spartan entered Mordin's domain.

Shepard took a tentative step towards the giant.

"Six-"

"My armor is fully capable of masking my heat signatures. My shields and power source can mask the natural electrical signals emitted by the nervous system as well. No upgrade required," said Six. His response was so unexpected that Garrus almost jumped and even Shepard flinched slightly.

Mordin was flabbergasted. Masking the heat signatures is elementary, he was expecting that. But to mask the nervous system's electrical signals? How is that possible!? Was that an intended part of the design or is it unintentional?

In order to mask the brain's electrical signals, his shields would have to be giving off an electrical signal of its own. That means that the shield has to have a charge… that doesn't make much sense now does it? If his shield is constantly giving off an electrical signal, that means that it would have to be a physical barrier made out of ions or something similar at least… Mordin's never heard of such a thing, the only direct comparison that he could think of would be cyclonic barriers. But that technology simply oscillates kinetic barriers which allows that barrier to be constantly active in order to slap aside linear force rather than take the hit head on. But it's still a kinetic barrier at heart, it isn't a physical barrier that is constantly active… nor could it be applied to infantry armor, that tech is limited to ships.

As far as his armor's power source goes… it would have to be immensely powerful if it is capable of scrambling a seeker swarm's ability to track its target. In truth, this revelation made Mordin even _more_ excited about figuring out how Six's technology works.

"Incredible, the applications of this technology are truly limitless, may need to conduct research even if the countermeasure is not required-"

"Dammit Mordin, can you please stop talking for at least two minutes?" groaned Garrus in comedic irritation.

The salarian did stop talking surprisingly, but that ominous look of excitement never left the scientist's countenance.

"Six, I'm not sure if this is a good idea, I'm a firm believer in the concept of never being too prepared and well…" Shepard trailed off, struggling to find a way to convey his thoughts to Noble Six.

"Even if I did request the countermeasure's installation, you would not have the technological capacity to install the system into my armor," said Six with an air of finality.

Shepard seemed to think about Six's words for a second, no doubt wondering if Mordin's countermeasure was even compatible with the armour system. Said salarian was grumbling as he saw the hesitation on Shepard's face; another failed attempt, he will have to figure out something else then.

Shepard sighed. "Alright, I'll let it slide, you definitely know more about your armour than us afterall. But god forbid if your suit fails and you get paralyzed, because I doubt even Grunt would be able to haul you out in the middle of a free fire zone," said Shepard with a bit more exasperation than he may have been willing to show. It was understandable of course, Six's stubbornness wasn't just annoying Mordin, but it was worrying Shepard, who had no idea if the Spartan's armour could protect him. In hindsight, the commander is probably feeling like _he_ is the one putting the super soldier in danger.

"Understood," said Six.

"Alright, now that the seeker problem is taken care of, I want both of you to gear up and meet me in the cargo bay. We won't be able to bring in anymore than three people for this engagement, lest we attract too much attention by having a larger presence on the planet. I picked the two of you because we need a mixture of power, speed, and precision for this mission. Krogans and an overuse of biotics can be indiscriminate, and that's detrimental to the safety of any civilians that the collectors haven't yet extracted," said Shepard, his voice was full of determination and the very same confidence that rallied the downfall of Sovereign.

Both the Spartan and turian listened intently to their leader, knowing that the man is an experienced commander and that whatever he says goes.

"Monitor fields of fire and apply lethal force liberally on anything that identifies as hostile, we've no idea how much damage they can take or dish out. But check your fire, we don't want any possible civilians getting caught in the crossfire… understood?" there was no need for a response, everything was understood.

All three members of the team were on edge. Both Shepard and Garrus were finally presented the opportunity of taking the fight to the alien bastards that have eluded them for so long. The Collectors were an enemy whose capabilities were never before documented, to face a new enemy without any previous knowledge on their capabilities would drive any soldier to the point of madness.

Unbeknownst to anyone else, Noble Six felt the same, though for much different reasons. It brought flashbacks of his first engagements with Covenant forces on planets both human controlled and neutral. All of his years of training couldn't prepare him for real combat.

He remembered his first skirmish against Covenant ground forces, they were already in the process of burning down the peaceful little hamlet by the time he got there on that cold Christmas morning.

Blood curdling screams echoed amongst plasma discharges throughout the frozen wasteland. The hungry flames that consumed to village lit up the cold, unforgiving night and the smell of the smoke, ozone being vapourised by plasma, and the stench of death permeated the previously peaceful scene. Corpses either burnt, cut to pieces, or devoured littered the dirt roads and the insides of the burnt out husks.

They called it a test, his trial by fire.

Mike remembered systematically slaughtering the Covenant unit. Every bullet fired marked the promise of an agonizing death, every human butchered promised the death of a hundred of the enemy's brethren.

He remembered the look of pure, unadulterated rage that that zealot tried to burn into his visor as it brought its sword down upon a screaming child.

He remembered his fists pounding the alien's head into the ground until it was a fine pulp as he roared in rage, reminded by the fate his family suffered when he was a useless child, unable to save them from their horrific fates. His enhanced lungs allowed the action to carry on for a half minute before the echoes of Mike's anger eventually settled and left behind an eerie silence that remains even to this day as he journeys across a universe not his own.

He was only twelve back then; a child soldier.

 _Has it really been that long?_

"If nothing more needs to be said, then you are dismissed. I expect the two of you to be at the cargo bay no less than ten minutes from now," said Shepard.

The turian only nodded and Six saluted, before both sniper and Spartan left the domain of the overly hyper scientist.

"Excellent, now that the timeframe of two minutes has expired, I believe that-"

Apparently one of them just didn't get the memo...

* * *

"What do you mean we've been compromised?" growled Six within the confines of his helmet.

Sigma sighed; he knew that this would happen. The Spartan was as big of a perfectionist as they'd get. The slightest imperfection was enough the send the usually calm super soldier into a rabid frenzy. This was no different.

" _That's exactly what I mean Six,"_ began Sigma as he used MJOLNIR's scanners to determine Mike's status. Interesting, his blood pressure seems to be about 2% higher than usual… suffice to say, the super soldier was royally pissed.

" _There is an unknown entity that managed to slip some surveillance equipment into the confines of the enemy stronghold through means unknown. Though going off of your recent… encounter, my current hypothesis is that Cerberus is on our trail. Though considering where our operation was regarding galactic territory… it could be any number of entities that could be after us. I estimate that there is an 87% chance that Cerberus was involved,"_ Sigma was confident in his calculations, the AI has never made a mistake so far in his lifetime with regards to calculations, estimates, and the like. The AI didn't want a repeat of the several events where Six and the Master Chief was forced to fight in a four way battle between themselves, the Covenant the Flood, and Forerunner sentinels. Sigma wasn't 'alive' back then, but he did have access to the recordings since he was designated to be the companion of the single most secretive soldier in the entirety of the UNSC. Those recordings weren't pretty… Sigma decided to leave it at that.

"Understood, we don't know what we're up against however, assume nothing and consider all possible variables,"said Six, Sigma heard the order in his voice and obeyed instantly.

Silence permeated the inside of Mike's helmet and the dropship that he was in. No one said a word as the dropship left the Normandy's safety and began its descent towards the supposed ghost planet below. Sigma hoped that there were still survivors that they could extract. Any information about this new enemy would be a blessing. Anything about their capabilities, force projection capabilities, and tactics would assist the Normandy crew in developing counter strategies to combat the threat.

"Any luck with planetside communications or surveillance?" questioned Six as he checked his weapon; a M395 DMR, and chambered an 8.6x70mm bullet. Shepard and Garrus observed the weapon with curiosity, it was a foreign weapon system to them, how could a soldier deny his curiosity for new ways of killing the enemy?

" _No, these Collectors completely knocked out the planet's electronics with a very powerful EMP. I can't use broken electronics,"_ replied Sigma with no unnoticeable amount of exasperation. _"Still, the Normandy seems to have a strong connection with the team, so at least something is going our way."_

"Best to prepare for the worst," stated Six.

" _So, so negative,"_ teased the AI with a noticeable amount of mirth in his voice.

"Negatives cancel out," replied the usually stoic soldier. Gesturing over to Garrus without anyone noticing. The alien _did_ appear to be agitated.

Sigma paused in surprise. _"Is… is that humour? From the Grim Reaper of the UNSC? My, my I am impressed,"_ drawled the AI in a fashion not often associated with a military grade smart AI.

"Don't get used to it," Sigma chuckled; perhaps things aren't so bad after all.

"Nice world, it's a shame that its inhabitants had to suffer this fate," muttered Garrus under his breath. His facial expression seemed to indicate sorrow, based on Sigma's knowledge of the Sangheili.

"I've never been to Horizon, but I heard that it's a beautiful temperate world," began Shepard, to no one in particular really. "They say that it had practically exploded in plant and animal biodiversity in recent years. A friend of mine that was in the same unit said he lived in Horizon, once you could get past the abnormally large insects and virulent disease, it felt a lot like Earth in a way," Sigma listened to the commander with interest. Often the things that makes soldiers fight the hardest is the thought of home, whether or not the commander did that on purpose was beyond Sigma, though he did notice Mike's heartbeat increase by about 0.21 beats per minute. He wondered if it was the thought of home or the thought of a planet's surface being recognizable and biosphere remaining intact after an enemy has successfully invaded it that was causing this fluctuation. To a human or even most computers, this small of an increase wouldn't even be noticed, but Sigma is a smart AI that has known Mike for years, he can easily pick out the tell tale signs.

"Damn is he…" started Garrus with a small amount of worry appearing on his features.

"No, a thresher maw got him a few years back, I only hope that the death was quick," said Shepard, his voice was just above a whisper, something that sounded like regret to Sigma.

"Shit Shepard… I didn't know I-" Shepard held up his hand in a silent order commanding the turian to stop. Garrus complied and stared at his commanding officer with no small amount of worry.

"That doesn't matter right now, we can't lose our heads now," Sigma was surprised at just how quickly Shepard's demeanour changed. Not even a moment ago he seemed to be filled with grief. But now it looked as if he would jump out of the shuttle, plummet to the ground, and slaughter the enemy himself.

Those were signs of a strong leader. Someone who could separate their emotions from the mission quickly like that in order to make way for logical thinking make for excellent leaders.

"ETA to touchdown is 60 seconds, standby," informed the pilot, a nameless fellow much like most of the crew.

"We're gonna land on the Eastern edge of the town, can't risk giving the Collectors multiple angles of fire on us," said Shepard as he ran one last weapon check. The commander and Garrus both stood up and faced the door with Noble Six.

"Line formation, three meter spacing, I want everyone to monitor their own fields of fire. Six, take point first and wait for us to form up, the more guns we have scanning every sector the better, we've no idea what to expect from the Collectors," a sound strategy, thought Sigma. A line formation would prevent the limited fields of fire that would arise from utilizing a column or arrowhead formation, giving everyone the chance to bring a weapon to bare on the enemy.

"Understood," deadpanned Sigma's human companion. Now Six was serious… more so than usual. Sigma usually calls it his 'mission voice'. He can tell the difference based on the more intense deadpan and very slight gravely tone… yes there is a difference surprisingly.

The door suddenly opened up and the three man team poured out of the dropship quickly and efficiently, sweeping every sector with their weapons whilst simultaneously forming up into the requested formation. Typical special forces fluidity, it was satisfying to look at, no matter how many times Sigma has seen Noble and Blue team do it. There was just something so satisfying about watching years of experience and training being translated into perfect movement and tactics.

"Mordin, we're on the ground right now, I sincerely hope your little science project actually works," Sigma hopes so too, right now, there is no way to reverse the effects of the seekers swarm paralysis ability. Who knows what would happen if Shepard and Garrus get paralyzed. Still, the AI was confident in the team's ability to overcome the odds and come out on top.

"Fear not, I have taken every precaution. Countermeasure should work as long as exposure to swarms are at the minimum. However, should it fail, I'm waiting to record the results regardless," said Mordin excitedly, seemingly without a care in the world.

"That's… not very comforting," admitted Garrus. "Perhaps you should educate Mordin on the importance of team morale."

"Yes, I presume some rehabilitation is in order here," agreed Shepard.

Sigma chuckled behind the scenes. But he knew that the humour was meant to calm down the soldiers, put them at ease. This wasn't just your average stressful situation where it's just another engagement with a familiar opponent. No, this was an organized and technologically advanced opponent whose capabilities have never been documented before, they had the right to be worried.

"I wasn't aware that they had orbital support. Yet another variable that we haven't taken into consideration… for Spirit's sake," growled Garrus. "Damn I just lost connection with the Normandy, I think they know we're here,"

"Ready yourselves," growled Shepard.

Sigma utilized Six's helmet camera in order to get a good glimpse of the vessel. It was quite large by this galaxy's standards, it seemed to be noticeably larger than a UNSC destroyer but much smaller than a cruiser weight ship. The vessel looked like a metallic superstructure built into a massive asteroid, it was a design the likes of which Sigma has never seen before. Why design a ship that way? Is there a strategic benefit? Or is it for the sake of some insane alien religion or culture probably paying tribute to whatever billion year old extinct race their species may worship?

"Inefficient placement of orbital asset," analyzed Mike, never one to miss out on strategic intelligence.

" _Yes, they are leaving themselves vulnerable to surface to orbit weaponry and opposing naval assets… not that they'd have a problem with that."_

It's strange though, these Collectors seem very confident in their capabilities, to so blatantly place their most valuable local asset in such a disadvantageous position seemed to speak volumes of their arrogance.

It reminded Sigma of the Covenant, of what the countless intelligence dossiers and files have revealed to him; decades of research on ways to counter the Covenant.

But not even the _Covenant_ would pull a stunt like this, at least not to Sigma's knowledge. If the Covenant needed to land troops, they'd vector dropships from their ships in orbit to complete that task. If they had to wipe out military targets - or the planet itself - then they'd do it from the safety of the planet's orbit. Sigma knew right then and there that they have something now; a weakness to exploit. They didn't have knowledge on their full capabilities, their true motives, attack patterns, or force composition, but they still have something.

They were moving now, keeping their eyes on all sectors, enjoying the protection that the wall and large rocks provided on their left, and the absence of land on the right due to their elevated position above the seemingly endless farmlands.

"Looks like the Alliance's investments were wasted, I wonder if those guns would have made a difference had they been completed in time," said Garrus.

Sigma observed the weapon; it was larger than an onager MAC gun, he wondered if this particular weapon could outrange the emplacement that he was more familiar with. It was certainly likely since this universe didn't have anything resembling an ODP and thus had to rely more on these surface to orbital weapons.

"I doubt it, all intel points to the fact that the Collectors can disable electronics on a global scale. In theory, they can just sit on one side of the planet, out of range of the guns, and then wipe out all electronics from there," Shepard was right. Though how they managed to do that is still up to speculation. The UNSC has never utilized EMP devices that powerful to Sigma's knowledge. So without any information it could be-

 _Shit!_

Sigma stopped his train of thought the nanosecond Six's sensor suite picked up movement. Time stopped from the AI's point of view. Literally. With Sigma's reaction time in the nanoseconds, he is a few million times faster than even a Spartan III or II. There was a dozen of them on the motion sensors, about 100 meters in front and closing. It won't take long until both sides collide in the courtyard ahead of them. The courtyard was littered with an assortment of barriers, pillars, and crates. None of the ground team were aware of the impending threat. It was too damn late to inform Six; despite the distance, the angle that both parties are at relative to each other would allow for visual contact just inside MJOLNIR's sensor range, which was in this case slightly augmented by Sigma's presence, though not too much so as to use up an unnecessary amount of power. Sigma just had to trust in the Spartan to react accordingly. With a reaction time of about four milliseconds in armor, Sigma was certain that Six will probably react even faster than the enemy that likely already know where they are. But what about Shepard and Garrus? Sigma knows that Cerberus augmented Shepard when they brought him back. But how extensive are those augmentations? How fast is Shepard? Fast enough? Sigma didn't know.

Sigma could only do one action, one simple thing, in order to give Six the edge. It was a simple form of communication common amongst Spartans.

He winked the red acknowledgment light inside Six's helmet.

Tens of thousands of hours of combat experience translated into Six's next movements.

To any normal individual, the time it took Mike to react to the red light would have seemed instant. But Sigma knew the truth; 3.998 milliseconds, impressive.

The deceivingly fast Spartan pushed Garrus to the side and took the brunt of the fire. The impossibly small shavings impacted instantly and the Spartan's brilliant golden barrier lit up in response to the punishment. Sigma found himself worried as a dozen or so bursts impacted the shield and brought its total strength down by a full quarter.

" _Careful Six, those weapons pack more of a punch than the hardware you're used to dealing with from the pirates,"_ Six didn't respond, but Sigma knew that Mike got the message and understood, he always did.

It was then that Shepard responded 110 milliseconds later; so he was fast, faster than Sigma anticipated. Still, for the AI, the difference was massive.

"Contact! Weapons free!" bellowed Shepard, his assault rifle barked and impacted the shields of one of the repulsive, insectoid creatures. Sigma watched the abomination's shields shrug off the absurdly light projectiles.

They were more durable too, and even without the shields Sigma had no way of knowing their biological makeup, where are all the vital organs clustered, how durable are their chitinous carapaces? This was all information that they had to learn with time and experience, but time is something they don't have much of unfortunately.

And then, as the Spartan's DMR continued to bark, the UNSC intelligence felt the unidentified transmission interacting with MJOLNIR's communication suite.

The AI knew that they were in trouble the second he traced that transmission to the enemy's ship; the center of their operations on this planet…

" **We are your genetic destiny."**

* * *

Joker growled in annoyance as the Normandy's communication systems tried, and failed to pierce through the metaphorical barrier erected by the Collectors in an attempt to cut off ground forces from orbital assets.

It was working.

The Normandy had some of the most, if not the most advanced communications equipment in the galaxy, to see it so easily overpowered both scared and pissed off the veteran pilot.

"Damn it… EDI, try clearing up that interference and isolating the ground team's signal," ordered Joker as his fingers frantically danced across the Normandy's controls.

" _I have already tried thousands of times Jeff, however no progress has been made. It appears that the Collectors have managed to ionize Horizon's ionosphere far beyond what is normal, our hails cannot penetrate that type of interference,"_ Joker's eyes widened.

How the hell could the Collectors accomplish such a feat? Typically, radio waves sent within a planet's atmosphere are reflected by the ionosphere back down to the planet's surface. This is why radio waves are a useless form of communication for ships and satellites that are in high orbit. Instead microwaves are used because their shorter wavelengths allow for them to pass through a normal ionosphere.

Joker thought back to the numerous planets he has ventured to throughout his career. There are planets that exist with an atmosphere so heavily ionized, that any signals from orbiting ships are simply reflected back out into space even microwaves. Horizon is _not_ one of those planets.

"Impossible…" Joke gasped as realization dawned upon him.

" _What is it Jeff?"_ questioned the AI.

"EDI, is it possible that the Collectors are not using a traditional jamming system and instead somehow managed to use element zero in order to project a global barrier that could ionize the atmosphere?" No one has ever considered the use of eezo in such an application, to be able to use it to effectively jam comms spoke volumes of the power of the Collectors.

" _Yes, after analyzing the properties of element zero and the ionosphere, I have come to the conclusion that element zero can be used in order to ionize the ionosphere far more than what is standard in order to achieve the same effects as a theoretical global jamming device, though having much more profound effects on electronics,"_ that was all that Joker needed and did not want to hear.

It almost made sense too; the ionosphere is a layer of weakly ionized atoms and subatomic particles. An ion is just an atom with an electrical charge. But these ions are not too numerous; they are spread thin. Somehow, the Collectors must have managed to utilize the high electrical conductivity properties of element zero in order to super saturate the ions with an electrical current, thus preventing and form of communication.

Strange… for the first five minutes of the infil, they were communicating just fine. That means that the Collectors must have jammed their comms recently… which meant…

"Damn, EDI The Collector ship knows where the team is, we need to do something now!" Joker was livid; that ship could absolutely decimate the ground team in a heartbeat.

" _I'm afraid there is nothing we can do Jeff, the hostile ship's capabilities prevent us from being able to retaliate with the Normandy,"_ Joker's left eye twitched in rage; that _insufferable,_ uncaring, good for nothing waste of space will _not_ stand between him and the ground team's safety.

"I don't give a shit, we have to do something, distract those pricks before they flip the damn chess board, pull a Harry Houdini, and send the ground team back to us in pine boxes,"

" _Jeff, the Normandy's weapon systems are incapable of harming a ship that large with such a technological advantage,"_ deadpanned EDI, seemingly without a care in the world.

Joker grit his teeth in anger, and was tempted to slam the controls with his fist but thought better of it; a broken hand isn't going to help him save Shepard or protect the Normandy.

Instead the pilot sat in his seat resisting the urge to itch himself as countless beads of sweat began to pour down his skin. Joker realised that he couldn't sacrifice the lives of everyone on this ship if it wouldn't change the outcome.

He also realized that there is a chance that the Normandy will be down a few members by the time this prematurely ends… he hoped it wouldn't come to that.

* * *

Commander John Shepard was many things. He was the survivor of the Skyllian Blitz, Hero of the Citadel, first Human Spectre, Sovereign's destroyer.

But he was still human, despite his feats, despite his augmentations… and humans do feel fear. As the first of the chitinous aliens fell under prolonged fire from Shepard's assault rifle, he couldn't help but think: Is this what humanity felt when they first came into contact with the Turians? Is this what first contact felt like? It was scary, Shepard felt fear often, who wouldn't? But the commander knew better than to let that fear linger, his experience allowed him to push that emotion aside; he needed to get his bearings straight, needed to be more machine than man, for the sake of the mission.

And so that was exactly what was done, in an instant the fear dispersed like the lingering thermal radiation of a fire would on a cold winter night. In an instant Shepard was no longer a mere mortal but the legend the galaxy had come to know, respect and fear. In an instant he was the _commander_.

Shepard leaned to the right of the pillar and opened fire on the slowly advancing insectoid creature, peppering it with a hailstorm of pencil shaving-like projectiles. He was tempted to wince each second as the creature withstood more and more of his ballistic onslaught.

However, the worry was for naught as the shields collapsed and the carapace became victim to Shepard's weapon. Thankfully, the aliens were not too tough without their barriers, the rounds penetrated instantly and the commander hypothesized that moving at such velocities, the rounds themselves might have shredded small portions of the creature's internal organs through the dispersion of small micro shockwaves; almost like a sonic boom, though having much more power compressed on a microscale.

The ex spectre smirked as the abomination slumped to the dirt silently amidst the sounds of war.

Seeing that the flank on the right is clear, Shepard immediately switched directions and looked around the other side of his cover, widened his eyes to comical proportions as he feasted his eyes upon the over half dozen entrenched tangos in the middle of the courtyard, and then promptly retreated behind the pillar, wincing slightly as he heard the metallic _ping_ for each time a round impacted the cover mere centimeters from where his head was not a moment ago.

Shepard furrowed his eyebrows, they were changing tactics, going for a mostly frontal assault while leaving their flanks lightly guarded; a grave mistake.

"Enemies are massing in the center of the courtyard, Six I need a distraction, Garrus, flank left," said Shepard in an authoritative tone, though he knew they'd listen, the situation sparked within Shepard the need to win - more so than usual; there are still fellow humans out there.

" _Acknowledged,"_ Shepard smirked at the deadpan reply, and watched in grim satisfaction as the Spartan's strange rifle fired even faster, already dropping a trio of the hostiles. Shepard marveled at the power of that particular weapon, wondering how such a primitive concept could be so powerful. Then again, it was very difficult to contend with an additional four hundred to five hundred years of experience with an already familiar weapon system. He wondered how many people would scoff at that, not wishing to believe for a second that a concept designed to replace a supposed outdated weapon system could actually be surpassed by the very same concept which has been experimented on and tweaked for an additional half a millenium. The commander inwardly laughed; some people just can't take facts or logic into account. Still, element zero weapons still had a few advantages that the commander is happy to have.

Without giving it another thought, Shepard turned tail and ran down the right flank, it seemed as if fate had a twisted sense of humour as another collector showed itself. Shepard cursed, he won't have enough time to raise his weapon in order to end the threat considering just how durable it is.

Instead the commander settled for the next best thing; ebon energy wisped around his physical form as the commander instantly accelerated forward towards the abomination. The commander had to be travelling at a blistering 70-80 kilometers per hour. The entire world felt like a blur for the briefest of moments before Shepard felt the biotic barrier in front of him take the massive impact. Even then, Shepard felt the air getting pushed out of his lungs. The collector flew back a good three meters and impacted a crate behind it, warping its metal frame.

The kinetic barrier that the alien is equipped with did not register Shepard's speed; even at his inhuman velocity, he was moving too slow to trigger the barrier, the full force of the impact cracked its carapace slightly and probably shook the organs within its own body; physics is a beautiful thing after all.

Remarkably, the thing was still alive, and was currently in the process of getting up onto its feet… until Shepard emptied most of his thermal clip into the repulsive creature.

The stubborn bastards just didn't know how to die it seems.

" _Shepard, we've dwindled their numbers a bit more, though we should move quickly lest we get bogged down by more of these freaks,"_ reported Garrus in a calm and collected voice.

Shepard recognized that tone, it was the concentration of a sniper moments before taking a being's life. Sure enough, there was a report, far louder than the rest, followed by another, and another.

Shepard turned his attention towards the bulk of the enemy force and lobbed a grenade into the group hoping to take some of the heat off of the Spartan. The grenade landed between two of the closer aliens and exploded.

The grenade's shockwave threw the aliens to the ground while the shrapnel eviscerated their barriers… but they didn't die.

Shepard growled, but refused to give up; anything can be killed if you shoot at it enough.

Shepard shouldered his rifle, prepared to turn his targets into swiss cheese. But before the man could pull the trigger, both assailants dropped dead in an instant, the commander's head snapped on to the armored bulk of the super soldier and raised his eyebrows in amazement; the two Collectors' deaths were so close together, that Shepard didn't know which one was shot first.

It was exhilarating even now to see the superhuman capabilities of Six. He chuckled grimly; Miranda's and even his own augmentations do not hold a candle Six's.

Shepard put that thought in the back of his head, took aim, and dropped three Collectors, two with his rifle, and a third with a vicious biotic assault which lifted the several hundred pound alien off of the floor and slammed it back down hard enough that the organs inside were likely mush.

" _Commander, hostile elements are dwindling, recommend we push forward to avoid further retaliation, how copy?"_ Noble Six was surprisingly calm despite this whole first contact thing… then again this was his what… third time including the aliens from his universe and from Shepard's own home cosmos?

Fuck, how can he be so calm?

"Agreed, push forward Six, Garrus you've got rearguard," Shepard didn't wait for a response as he dropped another Collector with several bursts from his rifle.

Despite being outnumbered facing a completely new enemy, the three experienced combatants made surprisingly short work of the bastards. Shepard could hazard a guess why. If there was anyone that was experienced with first contact scenarios going wrong, it was Six, and he didn't think anyone else could attest to that fact. The ex Spectre was glad to have the man onboard.

With the last hostile left with a bullet in the middle of its head courtesy of Garrus, the trio continued to push forward through the outskirts and finally in the small town.

Shepard stopped to inspect one of the bodies. It was lying face up with two tiny holes in its forehead; Garrus' work. As the ex Spectre continued to examine the body, memories began to flash before him. Shepard's eyes widened slightly as the memories from Eden Prime became more and more vivid; metal and circuitry welded to flesh, machine and flesh becoming one.

Husk, they look like husks.

"I noticed that too when I was looking at them through my scope," said Garrus worryingly. Shepard frowned; it looked like the work of the Reapers almost.

"I suppose the Illusive Man was right on one thing; the Collectors are working with the Reapers," muttered Shepard.

He noticed the shape of Garrus on his left but didn't bother to acknowledge him. The only thing he could think of were these sick creatures lying dead before his feet. He felt sick and damn near threw up his breakfast as thoughts of these tortured souls plagued his mind like corrosion would to a sheet of metal.

"Now the question is," said Garrus as he poked and prodded the corpse with the muzzle of his rifle." Did these lakeys team up with the Reapers out of the goodness of their hearts, or were they forced?"

Shepard looked at the turian with furrowed eyebrows, then back down at the corpse, flesh replaced with metal and circuitry, brain for what would amount to a CPU, emotions for logic, life for death, and ultimately, death for life, a life of eternal torture, eternal servitude to the puppet masters of all of galactic life. Shepard shuddered.

"I'd guess the latter," he whispered; he wouldn't wish this fate upon anyone.

Shepard took a deep breath and turned his gaze to the right; wishing to seek the armored giant's counsel. He was surprised yet also not surprised to see the Spartan's rifle slowly checking every possible angle of attack.

"Thoughts Six?" Shepard asked hesitantly, he was still slightly nervous around the soldier, it wasn't easy to forget what he did to his team when they first crossed paths.

He was expecting a short simple answer but was surprised and even more concerned when the soldier didn't reply.

"Six are you-"

"Memories," the single worded interruption stopped Shepard in his tracks, it was very cryptic, though the soldier knew that Six was trying to say that he was okay. It still didn't put him at ease, whatever was giving Six pause must have been pretty severe.

"We should push forward, maintain the momentum. If there are any survivors, they'll be on the ship,"

"I suppose you're right," Shepard didn't pause for conversation as he cautiously moved towards a large metallic structure built into a cave, probably to keep it from coming down on the colonists' heads… he ignored the picnic table as he passed it, meals probably just turning cold, recent as this atrocity was. "You're universe had something like the Reapers then?"

The commander stacked up on the metallic pillar, team in tow.

"Yes-"

Shepard, blessed with reflexes far faster than the average human, popped out from cover with his weapon shouldered, ready to damn the enemies of humanity straight to hell. His heart damn near jumped out of his mouth, grew legs, and ran away once the distinct corpse of the husk was distinguishable from the dry Earth-like grass.

"-In a manner of speaking,"

Shepard motioned his team to follow him, and as the commander and his brethren approached the corpse, weapons trained on the front, rear, and the body itself, Shepard's adrenaline spiked as he took in the increasingly tense situation and deafening silence.

Though the whole situation screamed 'trap', nothing happened whilst their slow methodical advance carried them towards the corpse, no one came when the sounds of their hushed whispers carried theories this way and that as Shepard stared into those lifeless cybernetic eyes, and no opposition was put in their way when confirmations were made and courses of action finalized.

With a nod shared by all three members of the odd group, they continued through the natural cave, unimpeded by the enemy so far, yet victims of paranoia.

"Multiple buildings, that means different angles of attack," said Garrus rapidly. "We need to be careful."

"It's too quiet, something's not right," growled Shepard quietly, his trigger finger began to twitch, demanding that the enemy show itself so that he can riddle them with gunfire. "Keep your heads on a swivel."

"Commander, two foot mobiles three O'clock, unknown affiliation," Shepard jumped at the iron hard voice, once again forgetting about the vast scope of the Spartan's abilities.

Shepard regardless eyed the small house, more like a hut infused with twenty second century technology in comparison to the towering skyscrapers of Earth's bustling cities.

With a series of hand signals, the team begin to get into position to breach and clear, Shepard himself primed a flashbang; if there were survivors inside the structure, the flashbang will only cause temporary blindness and lack of hearing.

 _Thump_

Shepard stiffened, what was that? It came from within the small building

There was the slight shuffle of feet from within the structure, but not much more than that. Could it be survivors? Could it really? Shepard began to put away the flashbang but stopped. No, unlikely… something wasn't right here.

"So… what exactly are the odds that we'd come across survivors now? I'd like to think that it wouldn't be that easy to escape the Collectors hiding in what would basically be classified as a glorified hut," Shepard scowled at Garrus' sense of humour but had to agree; about the only thing that would protect someone from a Collector invasion would be complete silence to avoid detection and a half meter bulkhead… minimum.

The hairs on the back of Shepard's neck stood up; this isn't good, it was just another situation that they were jumping into blind. But the commander had to take the risk and ascertain whether or not there really _are_ survivors inside… but he'll be damned if he identifies himself as Cerberus.

"This is Commander John Shepard of the Systems Alliance. Is anyone in there? We are searching for survivors and have access to food, water, and a way off the planet."

No response, if there really were survivors, then they would have responded right? But then again, perhaps it's fear that is preventing them from speaking, fear of attracting Collector attention. Unless these pricks were trying to play some sort of practical joke on Shepard and his team, that was the only viable option.

Shepard nodded towards the Spartan, who was posted on the right side of the building, the super soldier readied himself for the breach, no doubt having done so numerous times.

The ex Spectre once more prepared his flashbang and made a steady advance towards the window-

" _Contacts North,"_ deadpanned the Spartan.

Shepard, ever the quick one, spun around and bore witness to the trio of Collectors, leaping over buildings via jetpack.

 _Shit!_

Shepard's weapon was a blur to his own eyes, adrenaline flooded his veins and he sighted up the hostile in the middle of the group. His finger was mere millimeters from the trigger, so close to obliterating the treacherous creature, it was right before that horrendous, and very familiar scream tore Shepard from his tunnel vision and sent his heart rate skyrocketing to levels the commander isn't really used to.

He knew that sound, and suddenly this mission became that much deadlier.

He was knocked to the ground bodily by the unseen, yet audibly identifiable threat. Shepard's weapon clattered to the ground, out of reach. The commander's eyes bore into the cybernetic ones of his attacker… they were full of so much hate, so much pain, suffering. Shepard reacted instinctively and drove his omni blade into the husk's chest again and again until the tortured abomination stopped moving.

The commander refrained from sighing in relief in the middle of battle, and rolled the corpse off of him, noting just how much heavier it is than a normal human body with all of the horrendous cybernetics pumped into it.

Shepard sprinted backwards and into the previously occupied building, inside he found the corpse of husk number two with both Garrus and Six firing at the aliens through a window each.

"Hostile count has increased to 9," said Six.

Shepard swore as the sound of enemy gunfire increased and his shields began taking stray fire, he ducked, eager to save himself from becoming a piece of glorified swiss cheese.

"These bastards sure know how to throw a welcoming party wouldn't you say Shepard?" The humour from Garrus's statement was not lost to Shepard, and he scowled.

"Not now Garrus, keep up the return fire. No way we can leave this building until we dwindle their numbers."

The sniper didn't respond, but the heavy reports of his rifle was a good enough response to the commander.

"Hostile elements have increased in number, recommend maintaining a defensive posture," Deadpanned the super soldier.

Shepard emptied his clip into a collector, "Damn, alright maintain a defensive perimeter, don't let none of them inside!"

Shepard began to recall memories of similar situations, where he was locked in a building with a small group of friendlies as support, surrounded by hostiles. The best bet to survive would be to remain inside and thin out their numbers quickly before they pile in and storm their position.

Though the only difference is that he didn't have a super soldier on his side that can probably slaughter an entire company of marines without even breaking a sweat.

"Shepard, they're trying to get inside!" Shepard gripped his rifle tightly and berated himself for getting sidetracked.

"Six!" called Shepard.

His eyes met the golden visor, and he fought to hold back his devilish grin.

"Guard these entrances," ordered Shepard.

"Of course commander."

He turned his attention back to the enemy outside and caught a glimpse of the turian grinning in what was most definitely anticipation. Shepard couldn't help but grin himself.

Poor bastards.

"Tango twelve O'clock, doorway," called Shepard.

"Engaging," Garrus fired.

 _CRACK, CRACK, CRACK._

Round after round flew forth, impacting the creature's barrier, it glowed blue like the morning sky with each impact and eventually faded out like a candle being blown out at a child's birthday party. The hostile promptly dropped as another round found purchase in its skull and sent its soul to hell.

Another pair of Collectors appeared in the window of the structure perpendicular to the resting place of Garrus's latest kill. Shepard's eyes calmly observed the pair before he launched a ball of biotic energy. The warp, though slow, did well to impact its intended target. Both of the assailants, being so close together were caught in the warp. Shepard watched in grim satisfaction as the biotic barriers tore the collectors to shreds. Pieces of flesh and remains of their exoskeletons were flung in various directions.

The satisfaction was short lived however as the fatigue set in; the ex spectre put more effort into the warp than usual. Weaker warps, which are used very commonly, are typically used to make a target's armor useless by weakening the molecular and atomic bonds which allows for projectiles to pass through easier. Though the biotic energy lasts temporarily in both cases, it doesn't need to last for long after a target is shredded if the warp is overloaded.

"This is why Shepard doesn't belong in a kitchen… bringing a whole new meaning to the human term 'minced meat'," said Garrus humorously.

The commander ignored the turian and looked around for more targets, only to realise the absence of said targets, and gunfire in general. It seems that Shepard and Garrus had killed more than they anticipated.

Shepard turned around and widened his eyes in shock and amazement. After years of combat experience and the new addition of cybernetics, Shepard's perception is above human. There isn't much that can get past the commander; a patch of colour that doesn't belong where it is or perhaps a shadow that simply stands out. A mere change in ambient sound is enough to send a soldier the likes of Shepard into a rampage; constantly checking ambush points and the like.

But… to miss the _slaughter_ of an enemy squad mere meters behind you not only impressed Shepard beyond words...

It also scared him.

7 broken corpses littered the home that Shepard's team occupied, murdered with brutal efficiency. Some sported brutal cuts while the chitinous carapaces of other victims were simply shattered revealing the flesh beneath.

"Spirits…" Garrus shared the commander's shock, the both of them have never witnessed an individual that can accomplish such a feat.

He simply couldn't believe the feat he just witnessed, he didn't hear _anything_ behind him. No gunfire, footsteps, bodies hitting the ground, nothing. This means that Six didn't use his guns, just hand to hand combat and _immense_ speed since it seems that even the Collectors didn't get the chance to fire their weapons.

And there was Six, just standing there without a care in the world, as if something like this is a common occurrence for him.

He shuddered as he locked eyes with that visor. How can something so heavy and massive move so quickly? So quietly? How can a human accomplish this feat?

The veteran shook his head in disbelief, he looked up to the ceiling as if praying to some divine being before wiping the disbelief and hesitation from his brain. Years of trudging through gunfire, mud, blood, and corpses taught Shepard the value of wiping his mind clean of emotions. The mission depends on it.

"Six take point, we're right behind you," said Shepard, all traces of awe erased.

The Spartan was quick to follow orders, usually letting his actions speak in place of his words. As emphasis, the titan simply turned around and led the team out of the building, weapon constantly checking for stragglers or counterattackers.

Shepard mirrored the Spartan and kept both his head and weapon on a swivel; they were like sentry turrets with their robotic and rhythmic movements.

Machines in a lifeless maze as silent and as cold as the grave.

* * *

As the hostile incursion continued through abandoned city… it continued to observe them with increasing curiosity.

It was familiar with the combat tactics of humans and turians and made to note the above average skills of the turian and human that appeared to be the leader of the strange trio.

It mattered not, they would be assimilated and used against the paltry resistance that will be crushed in the coming months. The assets that have fallen to the incursion is but a mere fraction of the smallest conceivable fraction of the full might of the unstoppable force that will bring this cycle to its end.

Still, the insectoid's curiosity merely increased as the hostiles continued along their paths , slowly weaving through the empty buildings and frozen humans that looked upon them with fearful and pleading eyes in hopes that they could be freed before their supposed saviours disappeared from their peripheral vision.

How fascinating is it to realize that these elite combatants lack the ability to do anything to save the stasis frozens members of their species from what is a token force that has temporarily entrenched its position on this world?

The the semi sentient and routine reliant husk of a formerly intelligent member of a once proud species gazed upon the large, armored human and spared but a moment to appreciate the extensive augmentations that the human is injected with and the powerful armor that it is wreathed in. Most of the damage done by the hostiles can be attributed to this new threat.

Still it knew that this human posed no real threat to the cycle, it would be ripped from its suit, assimilated, and turned against the sentient beings it protects with naught but futility.

As a dozen more of its assets began their descent to ambush and eliminate the useless incursion, it knew that now was the time to intervene.

It connected with one of the nervous systems of the soldiers and felt its consciousness being transferred along with the augmentations needed to strengthen the host.

" **I am assuming direct control."**

It looked through the perspective of the pawn and locked onto the visor of the armored human and the other two dismayed combatants. Projectiles from the strange human bounced uselessly off of the pawn as the transformation began to occur.

More of the pawns rushed forward and fired off their weapons at the hostiles, the turian almost seemed to drop as combined fire brought it down, though it was likely still alive.

The armored human, seeing the futility of its range assault, rushed forward and breakneck speeds. The former sentient mind almost scoffed at such futility and reeled back a bioticly enhanced fist.

If the pawns can't deal with the threat, then the king will remove the issue personally.

* * *

 **Surprised at my unexpected appearance? Yes I know it's been too long, but with school and the need to succeed to get to university getting in the way, I've become lazy with other things such as this story. This chapter is shorter than usual I know, hopefully you guys can forgive the shortness of this chapter and the length at which it took for me to get it out. But, just so you know… THIS STORY IS NOT DEAD! It will never die I promise you that, no matter how long it takes for me to update. Anyways I hope you guys enjoy, please share your thoughts with me, constructive criticism and praise is always appreciated!**


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